The Searchers
by patricia51
Summary: Sequel to my story "Tripod". Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield search LA for their missing loved ones now held captive by Umbrella. If they need help they know where to call for it. Now complete.
1. Waiting

The Searchers, Chapter 1 by patricia51

(Sequel to my story "Tripod". Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield search LA for their missing loved ones now held captive by Umbrella. If they need help they know where to call for it.)

(Waiting)

(Los Angeles secret Umbrella research facility and prison)

Angela Ashford tossed and turned restlessly on her bed. Her half-waking, half-sleeping dreams were filled with barely glimpsed shadowy figures and some that were all too frighteningly visible. But what the young teenager had been through in her life left little room for anything else.

Her eyes popped open as she stirred restlessly. Now awake her mind filled with more images. Images of pictures of a Mother she didn't remember at all; of a Father she had seen die in front of her, shot by an Umbrella operative. Major Cain. It was terrible but even now she felt a jolt of satisfaction at what had happened to that murderer.

The rest of the images rushed over her. The shattering crash of the vehicle that was supposed to speed her to safety. Her classmates, her teachers, the school's pet dogs all becoming undead creatures. The frantic search for the kit her Father had given her and the two shots she had given herself to keep from becoming like her friends.

The sight of the burning city and the battle at the landing zone. The blinding light of the nuclear explosion and then the jarring smash of the helicopter hitting the ground. Then more and more scenes of death, the separation of her adult friends. That terrifying moment when she realized some unknown force was trying to make Alice kill her before the older woman had spun and fled from the place they had all been living and into the night.

The ruins of what had once been North America and the few survivors among the increasing hordes of the undead. The desperate search for a haven, and more than a haven, a home.

But among the images of loss and death and destruction there remained a face and a voice that she clung too. A face she had first seen while hiding in her school after witnessing the death of a female reporter at the hands of her no-longer living classmates.

That face was coupled with a warm hand holding hers. She had clung to that hand, to its comfort. Her Father was wonderful and wise but she couldn't remember anyone holding her hand like that.

"Angela Ashford. That's a big name for such a little girl" the woman had teased gently, trying to make her relax just a bit amid the horror of the day.

"My friends call me Angie," she had said.

"Angie?" The smile that accompanied that name had lit the gloomy darkness of the corridor they were walking down. "I like that."

She remembered the fight at the landing field. When that woman had cut herself free she had shot down the nearby guards and then wrapped herself around Angie, shielding the young girl with her own body. That had not been even close to the last time that Jill Valentine would protect Angie at the risk of her own life.

Angie had loved her Father and all he had done for her. It was because of him that she hadn't been locked in a wheelchair as he had been. She wondered sometimes if it was disloyal to his memory when she doodled on her laptop the name "Angela Valentine". She really didn't think that if he could see her he would have minded that she had found someone who could be her parent now that he was gone.

The teen blinked back tears. She may have lost Jill as well as everyone else. They had been so close, SO close to a sanctuary off the Georgia coast when the Umbrella ambush had been sprung on them. They had tried to get away but their modified and armored truck was no match for the pursuing helicopters. When Jill had lost control and crashed Angie had only had moments to make a decision.

Jill had been unconscious but breathing. Knowing Umbrella as she did Angie had no doubt that if the attackers realized that her adult companion was alive they would immediately take steps to make sure that she wouldn't be a future threat. Quickly she had smeared the blood from the cut on Jill's forehead over the woman's face and shoulders, making it look as though she was dead or at least hurt very badly. Then she had snatched up the spare laptop they had acquired and stuffed the other one, the one containing the data she had gathered on the T-Virus, under the torn-up back seat and run across the field and down the road they had been traveling down.

She knew she couldn't get away. That wasn't the point. She was simply drawing attention away from Jill. She knew if the woman she had come to think of as much more than a traveling companion or even a dear friend survived she would come for her. So she had to give her a chance. When the Umbrella goons had grabbed her she had kicked and punched and screamed "You killed her!"

It had worked she was pretty sure. As she was hustled towards one of the waiting helicopters she had seen another contingent of black clad men peeked into the wrecked vehicle. They had taken no more than seconds before leaving. It had appeared that no one had even climbed into the vehicle or even touched Jill.

So as day after day went by in this prison she was kept in, with the doctors prodding and poking at her and the discussions carried on as though she was some lab animal incapable of understanding what they planned for her, she held on to that hope. At night when she buried her face in her pillow and cried she also prayed.

"Please God, let Jill find me soon."

Tonight she felt so alone as she silently sent out her desire on the wings of hope. She hadn't come today. Maybe she would tomorrow. Angie refused to even consider the idea that Jill would not be coming for her.

"Jill," she breathed, wanting to use another term but afraid that saying it out loud would let her captors know how important the person was she thought of all the time. She was sure they monitored her. So in her heart only she called out to the woman who was now her mother.

Unknown to Angie, not more than five miles away Jill Valentine pushed her night vision goggles up on top of her head.

"I don't see anything," she whispered to the shadowy form stretched out beside her.

"Neither do I," replied Claire Redfield. "I think we can move down the hill and settle in for the day in that old storage building. It's concrete blocks, no windows and a steel door just in case. Based on what we've seen I don't think anything would be drawn that soon to us but better safe than sorry."

"Okay." Jill pulled her goggles back down and the two women moved swiftly and silently from the crest of the hill down to the chosen refuge for the day. But Jill's eyes flickered in one direction time and again until the pair disappeared inside the building.

"I'm coming baby," she whispered. "Hang on."

(To Be Continued)

(The novelization of "Extinction" explains the absence of Angie by postulating that Alice killed her while under the control of Umbrella. I don't accept that for a moment. But that's okay, after all isn't that the very basis of fanfiction?)


	2. The Trip

The Searchers, Chapter 2 by patricia51

(The Trip)

The arrival of Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield in what was left of Los Angeles had been anything but spontaneous, no matter how badly the former ached to get there once Mikey, the computer guru of Claire's convoy of survivors, confirmed that was where Umbrella was holding Angie Ashford.

First and foremost of course Jill needed to heal from the beatings and starvation she had incurred as a result of her defiance towards a local strong-arm tyrant who had taken control of one of the small pockets of near normality. The former police officer had never taken kindly to those she saw as criminals, especially when lording over innocent civilians. Unfortunately she hadn't had the firepower needed to back up her views.

Fortunately the firepower HAD arrived in the form of one Alice Abernathy and one Carlos Olivera, old friends who had arrived seeking a young woman they had come to regard as their daughter and willing to do grievous and often fatal harm to anyone who stood in their way. When the smoke cleared the pair had rescued their girl Kmart, the local citizens and Jill.

Jill had made her way across three quarters of America, doggedly following clues she uncovered as to Angie's whereabouts. It had taken long painful and danger filled months to get where she was now and she had to confess she really was no closer to finding Angie than when she awoke in the twisted wreckage of their vehicle just in time to shoot the handful of zombies that were tearing at the buckled armor around her.

Almost overnight that situation had changed. Carlos and Alice had been members of a traveling convoy that was headed by of all people, Claire Redfield. Although she and Claire had never met Jill knew a lot about the other woman from having been partnered with her brother Chris on the Raccoon City PD's elite STARS unit. The convoy had "acquired" an Umbrella computer system and satellite uplink and with it their computer operator had infiltrated the Umbrella system.

What he had learned had not come without danger. Somehow the intrusion had been detected and Umbrella had launched a strike force at them as they rested at an abandoned US military base on their trek to Alaska. That attack had failed completely under the guns of the convoy members, the Stinger missiles that Carlos had found in the base armory and Alice s ever increasing mental powers. But it was a warning that a direct assault on the LA Umbrella facility would not be a good idea.

Besides, with Alice and Carlos getting married and adopting Kmart they had done enough for now and deserved some time as a family. Both adults had immediately offered to come but had relented when it was pointed out they couldn't put their new daughter in jeopardy or leave her behind. But they accepted their offer to be available as back-up if need be.

It was "they" rather than just "her" who had accepted the offer because Jill had a partner in her expedition now. Not only was Claire at a bit of a loss after her convoy had found safe refuge in the uninfected zone that was Alaska but Mikey had discovered evidence that Claire's brother Chris, also an outspoken foe of Umbrella, might be held in the same secret facility where he was sure Angie was. The two women had already become friends. That fact settled it, they would go together.

It was a long way from Alaska to LA though. But the two women had an ace up their sleeves. That ace was the concealed helicopters that had also been "liberated" from Umbrella along with a highly skilled pilot, Sam Treadwell. Along with the other senior members of the now dissolved convoy they had plotted how to get as close as possible without tipping off anyone.

At first Claire proposed she fly the smaller of the two helos. Sam pointed out that although that would leave the machine close in case of an emergency it would be better to have the larger machine with its greater capacity and range. He further pointed out that would allow them to arrive better rested than if Claire was worn out from flying and Keep the helo available in case reinforcements were needed.

Once that was agreed on then the route had to be planned. At one time Umbrella's network of satellites had assured it of being able to keep an eye on every square mile of the planet. But the years after the world-wide disaster had been no kinder to those satellites than they had been to everything else. Lack of maintenance and the overrunning of ground stations had diminished the available coverage until it was just a matter of plotting flight times and routes that would take place when the sky was clear.

Of course Jill hid a smile during the occasionally heated discussion between Claire and Sam. When Umbrella had launched their sneak attack on the convoy Sam had been warming up the small helicopter. Automatically he had taken the unarmed ship up and out of the battle. As soon as he had been given the "all clear" he had landed and bounded from the helo long before the rotor stopped spinning. A frantic look around the area had stopped as soon as he laid eyes on Claire alive and unhurt.

Jill didn't know if the attraction was mutual between the former Umbrella pilot and the ex-convoy leader. It really wasn't any of her business. But she had seen the pair of them talking when no one else was paying attention and the body language had definitely indicated there was something there. And if Claire didn't always spend at night in her own bed in the house Jill shared with her well, once again, it wasn't any of her business.

What was her business was making sure that her partner's head was in the game and she wouldn't be looking back. At the same time she acknowledged that Claire provided a balance that would keep her from flying off the deep end in her longing to complete her mission.

The day came and the pair lifted off with Sam at the controls. All of their fellow convoy survivors as well as the other inhabitants of the town they had settled in came out to wish them well. Carlos and Alice repeated their demand that they be summoned in case of need.

"Both of us," Alice said, her hand in her husband's.

"The THREE of us," firmly added Kmart, standing between her parents with her stubborn chin stuck out.

Carlos didn't have words of parting. Instead he had gifts. He gave each woman a pair of night vision goggles and then presented two small hard shell gun cases. Each contained a silenced 22 semi-automatic.

"I packed five hundred rounds of twenty-two long rifle in your bags. Just the thing for shooting zombies when you don't want to draw attention to yourselves." He looked sideways at his wife and grinned. "And the magazine holds eight rounds, which is seven more than someone's crossbow does."

An elbow in the ribs stopped him from any further discussion. Alice smiled sweetly at Carlos and continued. "We found this gear in the arms room at the old military base. For some strange reason when they cleared the rest of the base they left the combat gear. I can't imagine why. We also have some heavier stuff that will be available in case you need help but you already know you can't burden yourselves with too much equipment."

Hugs and handshakes were exchanged and Claire and Jill climbed into the helo. Claire settled in the copilot's position next to Sam and Jill sat in the pull down seat behind them in the passenger compartment. Sam started moving forward as soon as he had enough altitude to transition and they swept away. From her position Jill could see the people waving to them become smaller and smaller until they were only dots along with the houses of the town. Then they were gone and she turned her attention on the matter at hand.

With Mikey's help Sam had drawn up a flight plan that would avoid the eyes of the remaining Umbrella satellites. Therefore he needed to fly a precise course with a number of changes in direction. There would also be several delays, which included not only times when the sky would be under surveillance but when Sam and Claire had calculated stops would be required for fuel. Sam had been dodging back and forth for days planting fuel dumps enough to allow them to fly to the very outskirts of LA and, of course, to allow him to fly back.

In addition to helping with the navigation Jill used a pair of very powerful binoculars to keep a constant watch on the surrounding country side, both as they flew and when they were landed. They were another of the things that had appeared after the group had left the old military base. Carlos had simply smiled again when asked if he knew where they had come from. Regardless of their origin, they provided Jill with a wide angle view of the terrain and she made a number of notes of what she saw.

The third night saw the party only hours away from their destination. Once they had checked the landing area and refueled the helo they had settled down to eat and rest up. They would take turns on guard. Jill had insisted on taking the longest watch since she wasn't doing any of the flying and the other two had agreed. But before Sam and Claire went to sleep they talked over the day's journey as had become a habit.

"Anything new to report?"

"Nothing specific," replied Jill to Claire's question. "But I do have some general observations that I have been thinking about based on a couple of patterns I have seen."

"Tell us," Sam put in.

"First and foremost, where are all the zombies, infected, undead, whatever you want to call them? I've seen only a few and they have almost always been alone."

"Well we know that they are drawn to the living. Maybe there just aren't any out there."

"Could be," Jill admitted. "But have they gathered in the cities then? Why? The infection raged through the population centers. Survivors have generally come from the countryside. So would there be living people available to draw them after all this time?"

"Remember how deserted Las Vegas was?" Sam asked Claire. "And it wasn't just the place the ambush was set up. We had reconned the entire city and nothing. Zippo."

"The notes we found in Isaac's lab said he thought the zombies might remain active for decades," Claire reminded them both.

"But what if he was wrong?" countered Jill. "What if the dead body eventually reaches the point that the T-virus cannot sustain it anymore? We know that the anti-virus does not confer permanent protection. It wears off. So why shouldn't the virus itself do the same?"

"Wow. So maybe we CAN outlast the zombies."

"But we'll still have Umbrella to contend with."

"Always," Claire agreed. "You said 'first'. Is there a second?"

"In fact there is. I've noticed here and there small patches of green. It's not very common yet but vegetation is definitely beginning to grow again."

Even more so than the first observation the second brought silence to the trio while they absorbed idea.

"So maybe nature is reestablishing itself?"

"And maybe the T-virus is dying out and its effects along with it." Jill shrugged. "I'm no scientist. I was a police officer. But we were trained to think logically from cause to effect at a crime scene." Her eyes looked towards their destination, unseen over the horizon. "Maybe Angie can figure it out."

The rest of the night passed quietly as did the morning before they took off. Sam had calculated to a nicety the time that would be required to fly the two women to their drop-off point and then make it to a spot they had picked out where he could rest safely by himself before returning to Alaska. After, of course, the two day wait he had insisted on before he would leave. Just in case. Realizing that once they were off the helo Sam could do anything he wanted the pair of searchers had agreed.

LA grew in the forward windscreen. Most of the sprawling metropolis seemed intact at first. Then as they got closer they saw the signs of fire, neglect and time that had reduced most of the structures, from the rows and rows of single family homes to the downtown skyscrapers, to ruins.

The skids bumped against the landing zone they had picked out. The distance was far enough away from the suspected location of the Umbrella facility to keep the sound of the helicopter from reaching there but not so far that the two women couldn't carefully cover the distance in one or two days.

Jill dropped lightly to the concrete pad they had decided on, her pack heavy on her back and a weapon in her hand. She smiled. There was a momentary delay as Claire kissed Sam and they cling together for just a moment before the woman exited the side door next to her friend. The helo lifted. Claire didn't watch it. Her attention was on the area around them. She had put romance on the back burner for now.

The two women waited for a while to see if they had drawn attention. Satisfied, they made their way up the rise in front of them and scanned the area as darkness settled over the land. They agreed on the place they would set up camp for the night and moved silently towards the block building and slipped through the open door, closing it behind them.

(To be continued)


	3. A Walk Through LA

The Searchers, Chapter 3 by patricia51

(A Walk Through LA)

(I didn't specify why it's known that the anti-virus wears off because I have eliminated the way we found out about that in "Extinction" when Carlos became infected from LJ. He had been given a dose of anti-virus back in "Apocalypse" which apparently wasn't effective anymore. But since obviously it DOES wear off so if it does than why not the virus itself?)

Morning came and Jill carefully unbarred the metal door, peeking out to make sure there was no one or thing lurking nearby. Not that the reanimated dead were exactly sneaky but as she had learned living people could be nearly as bad. She suppressed a shudder as she thought of the trap that Alice had been caught in at an old radio station where she had been put into a pit to be devoured by Lickers as her captors watched in enjoyment.

Alice had decisively turned the tables and the trappers had been consumed by their own pets. But Alice had abilities past either hers or Claire's so there was no sense in tempting fate.

The duo had talked about moving only by night but agreed that even with their night vision goggles they would be at a disadvantage, at least with the zombies that wouldn't show up at all on infra-red and moved slow enough that the light-amplification might not catch them . They would use daylight to get close to Umbrella and then attempt an entry at night.

After a hasty breakfast of improvised field rations the pair moved out, Claire muttering under her breath about the lack of coffee. The supply liberated from the North American Umbrella facility had proved ample, although they strictly rationed their consumption, and Claire had grown accustomed to two cups to jump start her day. But the lack of caffeine didn't reduce her caution or her attention to their surroundings.

Slowly the pair of women made their way through the remnants of Los Angeles. They picked their way through the outskirts, through the ruble that marked the long lines of suburban type housing that had once housed so many of the now vanished inhabitants in their version of the American dream. Rusting cars were covered by vines and bushes that had run amuck and then died as the climate dried up. The lawns that so many homeowners took pride in were now nothing but squares of dust. All was brown and dead. Broken windows and fallen roofs displayed the rotting remains of appliances and furniture and no doubt underneath all was the remains of the owners.

Only a few cats and dogs were encountered and all without exception were completely feral. In possible correlation of Jill's ideas only a few zombies were encountered. Silenced head shots took care of them all quickly. The women inspected several after making completely sure the animated corpses were down for good.

"It looks like they are falling apart," admitted Claire. "Maybe one day we will see the end of this."

"Let's just make sure today isn't the end for us," noted Jill with grim humor.

"Agreed."

Now the pair was approaching the downtown area. Buildings grew taller, empty or broken windows staring out as though they were watching the two women who seemed to be the only things moving. They moved in rushes, one covering the other from opposite sides of the street when possible. Their pace slowed. Each doorway had to be checked out, each broken street level window, each delivery or parking ramp had to be inspected before passing close. More and more, although it went against normal instincts, the women moved into the middle of street.

Of course that had its own obstacles. Cars, trucks, buses and the occasional military vehicle clogged some streets, mute witnesses to the panic that had gripped the city years back. White bones gleamed in many of the vehicles and littered the gutters.

Pausing to catch their breath Claire looked sadly at the massive pileup in the middle of the intersection they were approaching. She took in the scene and shook her head.

"They had no idea where they were going. You can tell, cars are pointed every which way. They were just running."

"Panic," Jill agreed. "I saw the same thing in Raccoon City. People terrified out of their minds and desperate to get away. And wanting someone, anyone to tell them what to do."

One thing that had preyed on their nerves was the silence. Only the wind made any noise at all and that noise was not the kind to relax anyone. It moaned around the concrete and steel canyons, sweeping through the gutted buildings with a banshee's scream when gusts darted through them. Then they both stood still and strained their ears as three evenly spaced gunshots echoed through the streets.

"Could you tell where that came from?" asked Jill after waiting to see if the gunfire would be repeated.

"I think it was ahead of us and to the left, but I wouldn't want to make any bets on that," Claire replied.

"We better get moving again," remarked Jill as she checked her watch with a frown. "We're no better than half-way there and its already slipping into the afternoon."

"I agree but if we don't make it today there's tomorrow. Let's not rush." Claire laid a hand on Jill's shoulder. "I know its rough but we won't help Angie if something happens to us because we got in a hurry or got careless."

Jill reached up and touched Claire's hand. "You're right."

In fact the pair was to find their progress slowed down and soon. A scraping noise came from the entrance to an underground parking garage and a zombie staggered from the darkness towards them. Jill aimed and fired. The zombie toppled, accompanied only by the ping of the expended case hitting the concrete. More undead shuffled into view, not only from the same place but also from an alleyway down the block.

"What do you think?"

"Let's get moving. Quickly."

Watching very quickly where they put their feet as well as their surroundings the pair quickly put the zombies behind them. Wordlessly they had needed only a look to agree on not wasting ammunition on a danger they could outdistance. So as best they could on the broken and uneven surface that once was a street they ran away. After a few blocks they turned a corner and peeked back.

A few of the attackers were staggering after them but only a few. And to their satisfaction the women noticed that indeed the zombies were staggering and doing it very slowly. But just to be careful they waited until the three or four closest ones were in range and then dropped them.

Jill nodded. "I think we're right. At one time every one of those creatures would have been after us. But it's almost like they can't keep track of us, however it is that they always seem to find us."

"I don't suppose Angie ever figured out just what it is about the living that draws them."

"She has several different theories, none of which she was sure about. At first she thought it's the warmth of our bodies but that didn't explain how they are drawn from great distances. Then she wondered if it might not be some scent we give off, our blood or our skin or just something about us that defines us as 'alive'." The former police officer shrugged. "In the end she just really didn't know. After all, she's a very bright young woman with access back then to her father's research but she's not a bio-chemist or anything like that."

"Oh well. Would have been helpful if we knew so we could take steps to hide whatever it is that attracts them. But if we don't than we don't." Claire looked around and frowned. "Just where are we?"

"A good question." Jill set her pack down and dug through it, pulling out her copy of the map they had printed back home and a compass. She oriented it and looked around.. "I think we're lost. Don't happen to see any street signs do you?"

Claire shook her head. They had known this would be a possibility. The maps they had created for themselves were based on data from when LA was still a real city rather than the ruins of one. Destruction wrought by the collapse and by the effects of weather gone wild and time had changed so much.

"I think we need to get inside," she remarked thoughtfully. The pair was now standing in increasingly darkening shadows growing in the wake of the setting sun. Once more she touched her friend's arm. "One more day Jill. It will be alright."

"You're right again." The ex-Stars officer looked around. "Let's find something tall. Tall enough that maybe at morning we can see the city and figure out exactly where we are."

"That building looks promising, assuming we can get that door open enough to slip through it."

Jill's eyes followed Claire's pointing finger to what appeared to be a fire exit door on the side of a reasonably intact building. She slung her pack and the pair crossed to it. Claire dug out a flashlight and shone it through the gap, illuminating the darkness inside.

"See anything?" asked Jill, who was watching the street.

"Closed door on the other side probably leading into the building's lobby." She changed the angle of the light. "The stairs seem okay."

Together the pair wrenched the door open, cringing slightly at the metallic squeal the long unused hinges made. They slipped in and pulled the door closed until just a crack separated it from the frame.

"Just in case we need a quick exit."

Claire nodded, and then looped a length of chain she had found on the floor through the bar that once upon a time functioned as the door release. She hooked the end over the broken end of a piece of rebar that stuck out of the concrete wall.

"That will keep anyone from coming IN but shouldn't really slow us down if we have to get out."

"Good idea."

The partners carefully ascended the stairs, testing them as they went. The risers looked sturdy enough but it was always best to be careful. They had holstered their pistols and were now using the HK5 9 millimeter sub-machines guns that, once more, Carlos had conjured up for them. Rather than use their night vision goggles both women had switched on the tight beam high powered flashlight each had attached under the barrel. Using them they kept scanning in front and behind them as they worked their way up the building.

At each floor they came to a door leading into the main part of the building. If it was solidly closed they left it alone. Any that were open led to a quick inspection of the immediate area of that part of the central building. They only went far enough to satisfy themselves that nothing was moving, alive or dead. Then if possible they closed the door behind them as they started their ascent again. If the door could not be closed they set up something to fall over and make a noise. Nothing someone agile couldn't avoid but even the Crimson Head zombies Claire had encountered weren't likely to look down and avoid the traps.

They reached the top just as the last bit of the sun was disappearing. A quick check of their surroundings against their map gave them their location. They were pleased to see how close they were to their objective.

Jill closed and wedged the door from the rooftop after making sure it wouldn't lock on the inside. Claire found a small shed that once probably held hand tools and checked to ensure that a light inside wouldn't be seen. Once satisfied the pair set up evening camp inside and heated some canned rations on a pair of heat tabs, washing the food down with water from their canteens.

After eating they went back out on the roof. Jill looked over the city while Claire got out their radio and called to check in with Sam and give him a situation update. After a quiet conversation Claire broke the connection with a smile.

"What did he have to say?"

"That everything is alright. That he's bored. He has seen exactly four zombies and nothing else moving out there."

"So did he blow you a kiss?" Jill's eyes twinkled.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

The joking was interrupted by three shots. This time they didn't seem too distant. The women moved to the low wall surrounding the edge.

"There," said Claire pointing.

"I see it," Jill nodded in the darkness.

Perhaps a half-mike to a mile to the west a light had flickered and then disappeared.

"That's where the shots came from."

Claire took her knife and scratched a line on the parapet. "Tomorrow morning we'll see where that leads."

"Speaking of leads, look at this with your night vision goggles. Use the infra-red setting."

Claire walked with Jill, picking up her goggles on the way. Donning them she settled in next to her partner and followed where she pointed.

"My oh my, busy aren't they?"

"Looks like it alright."

The two women continued to observe the glowing figures moving through the Umbrella base.

"Look, there's an elevator."

"Uh-huh. Can't see much underground, too much dirt blocking the body heat but I'm pretty sure I could find it when we're inside."

"And speaking of inside, change to light-gathering and look there."

"Where?"

"Over the top of the barbed wire in that corner."

"Oh my yes, I see it."

"Three rolls of triple concertina wire double spaced and they leave us a way to get in."

(To be continued)


	4. Information

The Searchers, Chapter 4 by patricia51

(Information)

One thing about being treated like a lab rat Angie Ashford thought, as she slowly slid sideways towards an unattended computer station, was that the people treating you like that tended to forget that you actually weren't the Scarecrow of Oz. Unlike that fictional character she really did have a brain.

The huddle of white coats looking at a monitor on the other side of the room paid no more attention to her than they did to the other experimental animals. Angie's arms were covered in sores from innumerable needle sticks to draw blood for this experiment or that one. She had heard the lead scientist bitterly complaining about her body's inability to manufacture more blood as fast as he wanted to use it.

Rather than protest, complain or most damaging of all to her plan, to demonstrate just how capable and intelligent she really was, Angie continued to pander to her captors' beliefs. She acted like a scatter-brain teenaged girl at best and like a trained monkey at worst. Her act won her a surprising amount of freedom in the Umbrella complex housed in the former Los Angeles county jail. Enough freedom that she had memorized most of the layout of the place, the location of the guards and their schedule.

What had taken the most time was finding opportunities to sit down at the computer and record the information she had gathered on the complex and the frightening direction the Umbrella scientists were taking in their research. But that was done and now she just needed a few moments to transmit the data from the terminal here to her father's laptop which hopefully was still in Jill's hands.

It was almost amusing that the only remnants of the world-wide web were those links maintained by Umbrella. Perhaps it was fate that might allow her to win her freedom from the corporation by using its own items against it.

Only moments were needed for her to log-in, bring up the file and the email program to attach it to and send it on its way. She quickly deleted the traces of her visit and logged out, returning to the stool she sat on hour after weary hour. Not the slightest notice had been paid to her.

In Alaska Mikey had set up a cot in the computer room in the house he shared with a couple of the other convoy survivors. While Claire and Jill were on their mission he didn't want to get more than a few steps away from the surveillance he was running on Umbrella or the radio that he and Chase monitored that kept them in contact with Sam.

A chirping sound caught his attention. He dropped his feet to the floor from the desk his heels had been propped on. He hadn't heard that sound in a long time. He scanned his equipment. The stuff he had built himself wasn't what had sounded. Nor was the system they had taken from Umbrella in Las Vegas sending the alarm. He rolled the chair along the bank of equipment until he found the source. It was Jill's laptop, the one she said belonged to her unofficially adopted daughter Angie. And sure enough, the little flag had popped up on that screen.

"You've got mail!"

He hesitated. Mikey was well aware that Umbrella's computer types were capable of tracing intrusions and responding to them. He had nearly got the whole group in deep shit once by getting caught snooping in the corporations files which had resulted in a trace that located them and then an assault by Umbrella troops. So now he was extremely careful with his infiltration of their computer network.

He thought carefully. Could this be another trap? It COULD be that or it could be an attempt to infect his computer system with a virus to destroy it or to take control of it. But what if it wasn't? He double-checked the antivirus software he had running. It was, obviously, an old program but one he had updated himself since the collapse. Now that he had actual leisure time to program he had strengthened it to the point he felt sure it could withstand pretty much any assault. Just in case though he crossed his fingers.

Once he had opened the email he abandoned his caution. Pushing his chair back he yelled for Chase even as his eyes continued to devour the text and drawing displayed on his monitor. He Waved his arm to bring the other man over to the screen the instant Chase stuck his head in the door. The ex-cowboy took in what was scrolling down and uttered a heart-felt "Oh CRAP."

"Exactly. You better go get Alice and Carlos." He continued to study the incoming transmission as Chase's hurried footsteps sounded down the hall to be punctuated by the closing of the front door.

Because the couple and their adopted daughter lived nearby it was only minutes before the pair of them got there.

"What is it?"

"We, actually Jill, got an email of all things. It's from Angie Ashford. And it has some very important information and one piece of really disturbingly bad news."

The two new arrivals studied the message.

"Crap," muttered Carlos, not realizing he was echoing Chase.

"Can we get this to Claire and Jill?" asked Alice.

"A warning about Umbrella's plans sure," replied Mikey. "We can tell Sam and he can tell them but how to get them the plans of the complex? I suppose we could describe them to Sam and he could do the same but that would take a very long time. And I'm not sure how secure our radios are. Nor if that much transmission time might be picked up and alert Umbrella to they're being in the area."

"And they really need this," agreed Carlos. He tapped a place on the screen. "Bobby traps and sensors all over the place. With this they would be much safer and much more likely to get away with Angie."

"So we radio Sam to ask them to postpone their attempt for a day or so and to try to find a computer with an internet connection. Or is that a hopeless search in what's left of LA?"

"I might be but I think it's worth them trying. The hardest part may be Claire having to sit on Jill now that they're so close. I know how she feels," Alice said, her thoughts obviously straying to the kidnapping of Kmart and her near-desperate desire to immediate pursue the trail to rescue her daughter. Carlos had made her calm down and listen to reason. She hoped Claire could do the same for Jill.

As the discussion went on the sun was rising over LA. Claire woke to find that Jill had already left the shed where they had spent the night. She stretched, yawned and strapped her weapon belt around her before going out on the roof herself.

Not surprising her in the slightest, her partner was looking over the parapet towards the Umbrella complex. Claire started towards the other woman but the chirp of the radio got her attention first. She looped the skinny headset over her hair and adjusted the microphone boom.

"Sam?"

"Who else would be calling you?" the pilot chuckled for a moment before getting serious. "Can you get Jill to listen to this too? I have some hot news from the country."

"We can try." Jill had turned to look so it only required an arm wave to bring the other woman over. Claire took the headset off and positioned the ear plug between them close enough so that they could both hear. Sam passed on the information he had received at his early morning check-in. Both women paled as he gave them the highlights of the direction Umbrella's research was taking.

"Those maniacs!" Claire whispered.

"Not even killing off ninety-nine percent of the world's population has taught them anything. We have to get in there and stop them."

"Yes, but Alice and them are right. We need that information that your Angie worked so hard to provide." Claire touched her friend's shoulder. "You must be very proud of her."

"I am but we have to get her out of there. They're treating her like an animal."

"I know and we WILL get her out. Jill, it's been a long search for you. Don't blow it now when the end is in sight. Be the tough-minded, hard-core STARS officer you have always been. When this is all over you can be a Mom."

"But where are we going to find an internet connection?"

"Maybe there," responded Claire as their conversation was interrupted by what was becoming a familiar sound; three evenly spaced gunshots.

"Thanks Sam we'll get back to you," Claire hurriedly said into the mike. She stopped for a second in mid-motion and smiled. "Me too." Then she had turned off the radio and was hurrying to the side of the building. One of the sides that did not face the Umbrella compound.

"What is it?" Jill asked as she followed the other woman, watching as Claire ran her fingers along the concrete edge of the roof. After a moment she grunted in satisfaction and looked out across the ruined city.

"Back when I was a young girl my family spent a lot of time outdoors, camping and fishing and hiking. Our parents taught Chris and me that a signal for attention of help could be made by firing..."

"Three spaced shots in a row!" completed Jill excitedly. "Chris introduced that to our STARS squad as an emergency measure." She sobered. "But what makes you think this person or people can help us?"

"We did see a light out there. If they have electricity they may have a computer and satellite uplink. If not perhaps we could find one."

"Assuming they're friendly of course," Jill reminded her friend.

"I think it's worth taking the chance. But I know how important this is to you. If you want to chance taking on Umbrella tonight I'm with you all the way."

Jill paced back and forth. If they went on this side trip and something went wrong it could mean that Angie would forever be a prisoner of Umbrella and that "forever" wouldn't be very long. But successfully getting the information that her daughter had gathered would probably at least triple the odds of getting out of the facility in one piece.

Claire stood silently, respecting her partner's dilemma. After long silent minutes with Jill staring at the Umbrella facility she wiped her eyes and turned around with a determined expression on her face.

"Let's go see what's up with those gunshots."

The women slung their packs and readied their submachine guns, flicking on the under mounted lights. Claire opened the rooftop door while Jill covered her. After a quick but thorough check of the stairway they began their descent.

Once they reached the bottom they inspected the street through the chained door. Satisfied with the empty vista before them they emerged into the shadows of the alley way. This time Jill had made sure she had their start point and the hopefully safe destination plotted on her map and the pair was able to move quickly through the streets. They had slung their HK's and drawn the silenced pistols that had served them so well so far.

Once more only an occasional wandering zombie was encountered and those were quickly dispatched. Then they turned a corner and stopped.

"Well, now we know where they all are."

The street ahead of the opened up into what once had been an inner city park with a several low buildings surrounding one tall one in the center. And that park was filled with zombies. Zombies were packed shoulder to shoulder as far as they could see.

"Feet don't fail me now," muttered Jill as she spun around and started to take off.

"Wait," hissed Claire.

"Surely you jest!"

"I'm not jesting," Claire nearly giggled, which action just about shocked Jill considering the circumstances. "And don't call me Shirley."

"Oh GOD," groaned Jill. Regaining her composure she asked "What is it?"

"Look at them. They're not moving, they're not grunting, they're just standing there. Not a one has turned around or hell, done anything at all."

Jill eyed the throng dubiously. "Okay so we're not going to running like hell, at least for the moment. But I have NO intention of walking through them, standing still or not."

The pair scanned the area. Jill's eyes narrowed.

"Look at that," she pointed.

"Interesting. Zombies can climb stairs. Wonder why they didn't climb those."

"No idea. But we can reach them and get up to the top of that building. And from there..."

"From there," Claire completed excitedly. "We can cross on that wooden walkway which looks suspiciously like it was built for exactly that purpose and then go up the fire escape."

"I think it was. Built to allow the people there to get in and out that is."

"So what do you think?"

Jill shrugged. "We came this far. Let's go."

To avoid drawing attention the pair walked past the back rows of the undead. Holding themselves in check, regardless of the gooseflesh and crawling of their skin both experienced they kept from breaking into a run. By the time they reached their target both were drenched in sweat.

The stairs that were their goal wrapped around the building. Halfway there they found a heavy metal door blocking further progress. It was locked. But an examination showed a lever recessed into frame. Standing on her toes Jill hooked two fingers into the groove and pushed up. The door opened smoothly at Claire's pull and closed behind them. She nodded in satisfaction.

"Nice set-up. Even if the infected got this far it would take a miracle for one to get hold of the lever, much less to push it up. The door's been oiled and maintained to open easily too," she whispered. "We're on the right track."

They emerged on the roof and started across the wooden bridge to the fire escape. It was an older one, consisting of a ladder going straight up the wall with a circular metal cage around it to keep someone from falling.

"No zombies are ever going to be able to climb that," said Jill.

Claire shook her head. "The Crimson Head ones that Doctor Isaacs created could. So we re not only going to be asking for help we have Information these people need."

The climb was long but both women were in excellent physical shape. Jill had worked fiercely to recover her strength after her imprisonment ordeal and Claire worked out with her daily. So neither was breathing hard when they reached the point were the ladder started, on a broad metal platform with steel railings on three sides.

The fourth side led into the building. Two heavy metal doors stood open in welcome. Less welcoming in appearance were the four people, two men and two women, who pointed an interesting selection of assault rifles at them as the pair climbed onto the platform

Jill looked at Claire as the two women raised their hands.

"Any tips or suggestions?"

"Me? You're the ex-cop."

(To be continued)

(After the recent passing of the wonderfully talented and extremely funny Leslie Nielsen I couldn't resist slipping in the line that became a signature trademark of his. Thank you for all the smiles and laughs Leslie and try not to make heaven shake with too much mirth.)


	5. Meetings

The Searchers, Chapter 5 by patricia51

(Meeting)

Claire and Jill surveyed the foursome covering them. That foursome was doing the same. They seemed to see the same things; wary, careful people who had survived when the majority around them didn't. All of them had the indefinable air of people who could defend themselves but weren't looking for trouble if they could avoid it. All six were neatly dressed, in clean if certainly not new clothing. The women's hair was cut if not styled in a world were that was unknown now. One man was clean shaven and while the other was bearded his beard was trimmed.

Both groups took in the measure of the other and reached the same conclusion. The others were not likely to be marauders. Fingers didn't release the triggers they were touching but some of the tenseness seeped out of the confrontation.

Claire broke the silence first. "Got any smokes?" She had left her share of the cigarettes they had found in the former North America umbrella base back in Alaska and was already regretting that, although she knew that tobacco smoke might give away their position to human foes.

Brief grins washed across the faces of two of the guards, showing that the remark had hit home with two like-minded souls. One of them spoke.

"Could be. Who's asking?"

"My name is Claire Redfield and this is my partner and friend Jill Valentine. We're from Alaska and we're here to try to get into the Umbrella base and rescue her daughter Angela from those assholes. And to stop their latest idiotic plans to make the world a better place for them and only them."

As Claire wound down she noticed two things. First, all of the well-armed foursome smiled at Claire's comment on Umbrella. Those grins were replaced by looks of surprise and in one case a nod of acceptance.

"Well, in that case come with us."

The man who said that turned and started down the hallway revealed behind him. As Claire and Jill followed one of the women fell in behind them. The other two remained at the doorway to the fire escape platform.

The route led past rooms with the doors open. People moved in and out of them, people who eyed the new comers with interest but without fear. Jill judged that some of the interior walls looked to have been cut through to make larger rooms, or perhaps offices of some kind. Then a laughing child darted out of one doorway with another in pursuit of another and she realized the truth even as Claire shot a look of comprehension at her. The larger spaces were apartments, places for families to live in.

The look both women had exchanged deepened and they relaxed. In the midst of a ruined city, surrounded by an army of zombies, they had found a colony of survivors.

Of course that didn't mean they were out of the woods yet. This could prove to be another kingdom ruled by a nutcase like they had encountered north of Las Vegas where the two women had first met. But that wasn't likely. They watched the interaction between the guards escorting them and the children. The children waved hello and addressed both the man and woman by name but other that much they didn't give much attention to the familiar people. Instead their curiosity was directed towards the new arrivals.

That was good. If the security force was the kind that rode rough-shod over the regular populace than the kids would either be hiding from or fawning over them. So things continued to look better.

They passed a steel door of the kind designed to meet building codes for fire protection. It stood open, showing it led to an enclosed concrete stairway similar to the one in the building where the pair had spent the night. Claire raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the door.

"Isn't it a bit risky leaving the stairway door open?"

"Nope," the female guard replied cheerfully. This stairway, and the others like it, only goes down two more floors before they are locked and triple barred. They could be opened if we had to evacuate for some reason but they're quite secure. The elevators are all welded in place to block that way of getting in here. We're quite secure here."

"Susan, don't tell them everything," the male guard reproved her, although rather light heartedly, "let them guess some of our security."

Susan proceeded to thumb her nose at the man. "Normally you're quite right Robert but after all these new arrivals are different."

"I guess."

"What are we different?" asked Jill. "Not that I'm complaining mind you."

"You shouldn't. We usually treat new guests to handcuffs and a pretty grueling interrogation to make sure they aren't infiltrators from one of the criminal groups that in spite of everything have managed to continue to exist."

"Or a spy from our neighbors down the road."

"Umbrella?" Claire asked although her tone made it clear she was not really asking a question.

"Yes." The short answer told volumes.

"Alice said something like that might happen."

"Uh-huh."

The party turned a corner and went up a set of ornate interior stairs to a wide open room that covered what looked to be an entire corner of the building. Floor length glass windows let the sunshine pour in. In the center of the room was a heavy mahogany table. Three men and two women sat at it. They weren't lined up on the far side of the table though; there was no appearance of a board of examiners. Rather they were scattered all around the table in positions of comfort while chatting animatedly.

One man waved to a pair of empty chairs as the group turned its attention to Claire and Jill.

"Miss Redfield, Officer Valentine, please have a seat."

Claire raised an eyebrow even as the pair took the indicated chairs. She started to ask how he had come to know their names when she heard a crackle of static and saw a walkie-talkie laying on the table by the man.

Jill saw the same thing and nodded, realizing that one of the guards who had stayed behind had radioed their names ahead. Their names she understood but she wondered how the man knew that she was a former police officer. Not being shy and retiring she asked that very question.

The man smiled and answered. "We were told that by someone who knows you both and vouched for you as being trustworthy and reliable beyond any doubt."

"And that someone was...?" Claire left the question hanging in the air.

"Someone who will let you know personally when the time is right," was the cryptic reply. "In the meantime let me introduce you to the other members of the Guiding Council present, as we have the honor to be. He went around the name. "This is William, Danielle, Sara, Martin and I'm Stuart."

"You are the decision makers here then?" Both visitors were dying to know more about the mysterious someone but sensed that further questions about him or her would be ignored.

"The 'decision implementers' would be a better term," the woman identified as Sara replied. "Major issues are decided by the majority of adult members in our community after being thrashed out in a town hall meeting forum."

"Of course," added William with a smile, "there are times when you simply can't call a meeting to decide something that has to be handled right away. So long as we keep the trust of all the others by handling those immediate issues as well as we can we remain on the Council. But we can be voted off pretty much any time."

"And now we're handling the issue of two strangers who aren't strangers because they have been mentioned more than once by one of the Council members who is on a foraging mission right now," Stuart added. "Until that person returns we assume you are who you say you are but there is a possibility, although slight, that you are imposters. The gangs we have had to fend off ever since we first established this refuge would be very unlikely to have the facilities to produce such imposters but Umbrella doubtless has detailed files on both of you and could try it."

"I have the feeling that such an idea has already occurred to you, based on a remark you made on the way here. Would you care to elaborate on that?"

Claire and Jill exchanged glances and shrugged. Jill spoke first.

"Might as well tell them. If this really is an Umbrella set-up we're pretty much screwed anyway but I just don't believe that it is."

Claire nodded and looked at the expectant five some.

"A few months ago the convoy of survivors I was leading was ambushed by a contingent of Umbrella created super-zombies under the direction of one of the corporation s leading scientists, a Doctor Sam Isaacs, who created them. The attempt was to capture, dead or alive one of our members, Alice Abernathy, former head of security at the Raccoon City Hive who was working against Umbrella's attempts to create the ultimate bio-weapon. The rest of us were secondary, if we were killed they didn't care."

"As it turned out we won, due largely to the sacrifice of one of our members. Isaacs was killed, the super zombies got free in the Umbrella facility and there was a battle of mutual extermination there. At the end the only Umbrella survivor was a helicopter pilot Sam Treadwell who we had captured but became a trusted member of our convoy and helped us get to Alaska where the rest of our survivors are now."

"Sam told us, and documents we found at the wrecked Umbrella facility near Las Vegas confirmed, that Umbrella is fracturing. They believe that the zombies may remain active for decades and they know they don't have enough food and supplies to last that long. Albert Wesker is losing control. It would be in keeping with how they do things that the facility here would attempt to seize your haven, not only to loot if but because the whole corporate culture is built on the premise of holding power over others."

Danielle smiled. "Some of that sounds very familiar indeed. Not surprisingly considering from whom else we heard it although a lot of it matches the conclusions we have reached on our own. Now, tell us what we can do to help you. What are you here?"

"Here?" Claire pointed at the table in front of them. "Or here?" she moved her entire arm in a broad circle to indicate a much larger area.

"Well start with why you're in LA," Martin requested.

"I'm searching for my daughter Angie. My adopted daughter that is," Jill said. "She was taken from me by Umbrella back in Georgia but information we have gathered says she's being held in the facility here while they try to find a way to safely transfer her to the main lab in Tokyo."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because Angie's father was Doctor Charles Ashford. They believe she has knowledge of her father's research into the T-Virus. She also was the first person to receive an anti-virus and they want to know just how it affected her."

"And you Miss Redfield?"

"Please, it's 'Claire'. First off, Jill is my friend. And second I also have some indication that possibly my brother Chris, who was once on the same Special Tactics and Rescue Squad as Jill was a member of, may also be in the area."

"That seems very reasonable, both of you. So why are you here?" Stuart indicated the room they were in.

"My daughter managed to send an email to her father's computer from inside Umbrella. It has a detailed description of the layout and the personnel there. To get it, and make our entry there much more likely to succeed we knew we would have to find someone who possibly still had internet access, hopefully via satellite. We saw your lights. There isn't much chance anyone without electricity would have internet capability so we decided to try here."

"And the three shots gave notice that you were announcing your location either because you were in trouble or because you were announcing your location to those in trouble. Or at least I hoped so based on what I was taught when I was young," said Claire.

A slight bustle at the doorway didn't draw much attention even though several of the council members smiled. It wasn't until a male voice spoke that both Claire and Jill snapped around in their seats.

"And Dad said that you never paid attention to those camping and hiking lessons."

(To be continued)


	6. Reunion

The Searchers, Chapter 6 by patricia51

(Reunion)

"And Dad said that you never paid attention to those camping and hiking lessons."

Claire sprang to her feet, her eyes opening wide in surprise and her mouth falling open. But she recovered quickly and launched herself across the room and into the wide-spread arms of the smiling man standing in the doorway. A long frantic hug ensued, only to be finally broken when Claire pulled her head back from the shoulder it had been nestled on.

"You, you, YOU!" she exclaimed before smacking him on the chest with an open hand. "Here I've been worried to death about you for years. I leave my nice, safe home in Alaska because I hear that you're a prisoner of Umbrella; sneak through half of LA and then find you free, well-rested, well-fed and in generally great shape. Some brother you are! You could have at least had the decency to be locked up in a rat-infested cell with water seeping through the walls while you lived on moldy bread and scummy water."

"Yes, well, as appealing as all that sounds Claire I'm just as glad I'm here and not in that paradise you just described. Besides," he grew serious for a moment, "I've experienced Umbrella's hospitality. I was fortunate enough to escape and even more fortunate to find these wonderful people."

With one arm around his sister Chris Redfield grinned at the other woman who had also risen from her seat. "Hey partner. It's a long way from the Arkady Mountains isn't it? How have you been? Did you come along with my sister to help find me?"

Jill walked over to her two friends and hugged them both, to share Claire s happiness in finding her brother and her own pleasure in seeing her old friend and fellow officer. She immediately sobered though and shook her head in a negative gesture.

"Claire was kind enough to offer to come with me in my search, although hoping to find you was also part of why she's here."

"Your search?"

"I'm looking for my daughter."

Chris looked stunned. "Your daughter? I didn't know you had ever had a child."

"She's adopted. By our hearts if not in any court of law."

"I didn't know there were any courts of law in existence any more so that's probably pretty unimportant," Chris commented.

"Actually there are up in Alaska where we're from," Claire interjected.

"Alaska?" Chris said in surprise.

Claire and Jill together filled him in on some of their recent adventures and how they had ended up living in the North and how they had then come down to LA to search for Angie. Jill explained how they had been pretty sure of her where-about and how the message they had received from their friends back home had confirmed it.

"We had heard the gunshots and seen the lights from here. So we came here hoping we could find an internet connection so we could download the information that Angie managed to obtain and email."

"And where we find you," Claire said in satisfaction. "Not only are you safe but we can use your help."

Chris looked at the council members and grimaced. "I think we can probably provide you with that access. We still have a Sat uplink. As for help, let's take a bit of a walk."

The two women exchanged looks and nodded. As they fell in behind Chris Jill murmured. "I don't think we're going to like this."

Wordlessly the trio walked down the hall and turned into the same stairs they had passed earlier. Taking them two at a time Chris bounded up three flights with the girls in pursuit until they reached a closed door. Chris pushed it open and sunlight flooded into the concrete box of the stairway along with the warm scent of growing things.

"Wow," said Claire as she looked over the row of plants waving in sun. The entire rooftop was a huge garden.

"This is how they supplement the food supplies that they bring back from foraging expeditions like the one I just returned from running. Perhaps one day we ll be able to live on the food grown here."

"Food and more," Jill said gently as she brushed her fingers over a climbing rose bush that wound its way around the blockhouse that probably once served to house the machinery for the no longer operational elevators.

Chris shrugged. "Like they say, man does not live by bread alone."

"Actually that's from the Bible but I'd say it's accurate."

"So Chris," said Jill as the trio stood in the breeze blowing across the building top, "What are you going to tell us that we don't want to hear?"

"The people here are good people. Hell, they're VERY good people. They live as best as they can among the ruins of this city and the legions of the undead that infest it. They try to carry on some semblance of civilization where none exists. They try to find other survivors and when they do they welcome them into this group. And it really is run by the entire group as a whole. There's no elite caste of people controlling everyone else, no masters and servants crap."

"But..." encouraged Claire.

"But because of what they have here they have developed an unwritten, unspoken agreement with Umbrella; 'I'll leave you alone if you leave me alone'. Oh, they're not stupid, they know that the moment Umbrella thinks they have an advantage they'll try to hit this place, take it over and loot it of everything. But right now things are balanced too even between them so the truce stays in effect."

"When I escaped from Umbrella, and we'll talk about that some other time if and when it's important, I was lucky enough to find my way here. I was in pretty bad shape and it took a lot for them to nurse me back to health. I owe them. As much as I hate and distrust Umbrella I can't go against the wishes of the people here." Agony showed in Chris' face as he explained why he couldn't help his old friend and his sister. "I gave my word I would abide by their decision."

"That's understandable Chris. But I want to make you a proposition," Jill said. "We go find that computer and download what Angie sent me. And then we present some of her findings to the council here. I bet we'll find they have a change of heart about you helping us."

Chris looked back and forth from Jill to Claire, who nodded agreement.

"I don't know whether to be relieved that you have something that will make them reconsider or scared out of my mind."

"Be both," Claire told her brother.

Chris led them back down the stairs to a floor they had passed on the way up. They went down the corridor and turned into a room that had the remnants of the name of some insurance company peeking out from under a taped sign that said "Computer Room". A pleasant young man who reminded both women of Mikey looked up from his position on the floor on his back where he had been frowning at a tangle of wires.

"Hi Chris," he greeted the man in the lead and then eyed the pair with him with unabashed interest and more than a hint of admiration.

"Hi Dominic. This is my sister Claire and my ex-STARS partner Jill Valentine. They need access to the web and specifically to an email."

"An email," Jill fished a notebook from an inside pocket and opened the cover. She went through the pages to the one she was looking for and handed it to Dominic, "with this address or it should now posted to a webpage with this URL."

Dominic glanced at the paper as he levered himself up from the floor and dropped into the rolling chair in front of a keyboard. He typed rapidly, clicked the mouse several times and grunted with satisfaction.

"Here it is."

Jill looked over his shoulder. "Would you print three copies of this," she indicated one section. "That's the layout of the base. And this page right here," she pointed, "we need enough copies to give one to each council member plus three left over. And finally that last one needs just one copy for me." She looked up. "It's personal from Angie."

Once that was done they walked quickly back down the remaining stairs to what Jill thought of as the "Council Chamber". The members had already scattered but Chris had made an announcement from the computer room and they were reassembling as the trio came in.

Stuart lifted an eyebrow but other than that everyone waited expectantly. Jill took the lead.

"Thank you for coming back so quickly. I was aware of this information but until I had hard copies of it rather than relayed radio messages I was reluctant to offer this to you. Now I will."

"Chris has told us of your 'trust but verify' arrangement with the local Umbrella base. It's understandable. The remnants of humanity can't go feuding with each other if we are going to survive as a species on this planet. But this information smuggled out via computer link by my daughter inside the base will, I think, change your minds when it opens your eyes to the idiocy of the Umbrella researchers and their plans."

Clair passed a copy of the message to each council member and Jill continued.

"Shakespeare said 'the evil that men do oft lives on after them'. This is certainty true in this case. The Umbrella scientists have seized on the idea of the late..."

"And certainly unlamented..." added Claire.

"Doctor Sam Isaacs," finished Jill. "He had proposed, and concentrated on, producing a serum that would restore some limited intelligence, self-awareness and control to the zombies. The idea was to 'create a docile work force'."

"What this work force was supposed to accomplish is not really spelled out. The idea could have been to make factory workers who could restart Umbrella's production of goods and services that led them to be the dominant corporation in the world. Of course the problem with that would be who would there be to BUY these goods and services?"

"Another aim could have been to create a servant class of beings that could be directed to serve whatever whim the Umbrella personnel, especially the board members and other higher-ups, could come up with. A permanent slave culture. This seems the most likely end result. Umbrella always at the top and the rest of humanity to serve it."

"But," Claire took over, "there is a problem with that aim. Umbrella scientists had found, as most of us have noticed lately, that Isaacs was wrong in one respect. There zombies are not going to remain active for decades. They are beginning to fall apart now and perhaps in less that a year or two they will at last be dead instead of undead and their bodies will return to the earth."

"This leaves a serious problem for Umbrella. First and foremost, Chairman Albert Wesker has personally signed off on this project. Even more so then before the collapse we understand that failing to meet Chairman Wesker's expectations results in very, VERY serious consequences for those responsible or who can at least be blamed. Most are immediately ejected from the underground habits the corporation is sitting in, which is the same as a death sentence of course."

"So what are they going to do? Well, they have to have new zombies. So the scientists thrust has been to up-grade the T-virus for deliberate dispersal over the world. In effect they are going to make an all-out attempt to turn the rest of humanity into zombies."

A stunned silence was the result of the women's earth-shaking revelations.

Sara managed to rally first. "I'm not disputing what you re telling us. But I do have a question or perhaps an objection. Umbrella is world-wide. What can we do here to stop this?"

"That's the beauty of it. Rotten choice of descriptive phrases I know but it fits. The only place they can proceed with this experiment is here in LA. Because only here do they have access to someone who's body has successfully bonded with the T-virus."

"Your daughter," stated William.

"Exactly. Angie's birth father was Doctor Charles Ashford, the creator of the T-virus. On his behalf, by the way, I'd like to point out his aim was noble. He was trying to come up with a way to reignite dead or damaged nerves and other body parts that would allow them to function as normally as possible again. And it works in its original form. Angie is able to walk although by now the same disease that crippled her father should have put her in a wheelchair long ago."

"Chairman Wesker has been trying everything to get Angie moved to the main Umbrella labs under the ruins of Tokyo so he can personally supervise the research performed using her. So far they have been unable to come up with a safe way to move her. There aren't planes any more that can fly across the Pacific and a sea voyage has been deemed to risky. But that might change. That's why we've got to hit them and stop then now."

"What do you want from us," asked Martin.

"Just Chris. Too large a force would just draw attention. But the three of us can slip in, rescue Angie and blow the lab without getting picked up by the Umbrella security force, who won't be expecting us anyway."

The council members exchanged glances and nodded. Stuart looked at the trio.

"Go with God. We'll be awaiting your return."

(To be continued)


	7. Infiltration

The Searchers, Chapter 7 by patricia51

(Infiltration)

Darkness had fallen like a blanket covering the ruins of Los Angeles. The night softened the crumbling buildings and hid the wreckage of a fallen society. Only a dim light from a faltering moon cast any illumination on the city. Nothing moved.

Nothing that Claire Redfield could detect at any rate. Nothing except for two figures inching their way down the abandoned power lines that led to the roof of the former jail that now served as the Umbrella research facility on the west coast of America.

One figure would move a few feet, pulling itself along the wire. Then it would stop, wait and watch while the second figure slid ahead of it. Back and forth they went, until they disappeared in the shadows of the building that was their objective.

Claire sighed inaudibly and adjusted her headset. She tensed as the static was broken once, then again by the keying of a mike. She relaxed just a bit. Words might be intercepted or overheard but the agreed upon "two clicks" told her that her brother and her best friend were on the roof and undetected.

From the carefully barricaded third floor room Claire could see pretty much all of the Umbrella complex below her, including and most importantly the gate that was the planned exit for the pair of intruders and the girl their mission was to free from captivity. Jill's primary mission at least. Chris was more set on destroying the Umbrella lab and the potentially horrific new variation of the T-virus being developed there. Not that Jill didn't care about that but after all the captive teen girl the scientists were using as a lab experiment was her adopted daughter.

Claire had worried that Jill might be too emotionally involved in the rescue attempt but there really wasn't any choice. They had night vision gear and suppressed weapons for two. While she had learned a great deal about combat and survival since the collapse of civilization she was no match for the other two. Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine had been members of the elite Special Tactics and Rescue Service before the outbreak. They had been intensively trained in police and combat situations, including urban hostage rescue and terrorist suppression.

So as much as it made her grit her teeth she kept watch outside while the other two made the insertion. She actually prayed that she would be a passive spectator with nothing to do but if she had to get involved she couldn't complain she was under armed. One of the expeditions the survivors living in the old office building in the park had undertaken had been to the city s National Guard armories and Reserve Centers. Numerous trips, the last several of which had been led by Chris, had stockpiled weapons and ammunition enough to fight off several marauder attacks as well as more than one massive zombie assault when the undead were still moving around. She hefted the M24 sniper rifle, sweeping its powerful scope across the dimly lit grounds of the target area.

She strained her ears. It might just be her imagination, it might be the stillness of the air, but she thought she heard the gentle cough of one of the silenced .22 caliber automatics the others carried. Either way there were an additional two clicks in her earpiece that signaled that the roof was cleared and that they were going into the building.

Chris Redfield gently lowered the body of the Umbrella guard to the gravel topping the roof he and his partner had reached after their long slow crawl down the no longer electrified power lines leading here. The long training he and Jill had received as police officers meant that even now they didn't take it lightly when they were forced to kill someone but at the same time there was no hesitation when it was needed. And it had been needed. The pair of them had just been unsnapping their safety ropes when the door leading up onto the roof had opened and the pair of guards had come out.

A quick search of the bodies revealed a set of keys on one guard's belt. From the description they had received from Angie on the layout of the complex they were aware that a lot of the usual security features used by Umbrella as well as most other places in the pre-collapse world such as key card readers and magnetic locks had been discontinued due to lack of qualified maintenance rendering them useless. But key locks now, they survived a lot longer and Chris hoped the bunch he held here would allow them swift movement through the corridors until they reached their objectives.

The pair paused for a moment to see if their actions had raised any alarm. Nothing but silence reached their ears. Jill caught Chris' attention. She touched the black uniform of the guard, pointed at herself and then indicated the other guard and pointed from that body to Chris. He shook his head sideways. Although they might gain some lag time in being discovered by wearing the uniforms the two bodies looked to be too large for Jill and too small for him. That ill-fitting coupled with the blood that had seeped from the wounds made them more likely to draw attention than deflect it.

Shrugging her agreement Jill holstered her pistol and slipped over to the still ajar door. She peeked down it and made a "come-on" gesture. They carefully closed the door behind them, noting that a push on the bar was all that was needed to open it.

There was a tiny crackling noise when Chris dug out the copy of the floor plan and the pair studied it, ensuring they were properly oriented and knew exactly where they were going. Jill brought her lips to Chris' ear.

"The lab or Angie's room?"

"I think the lab. There's a good possibility that she is there already. If not we know her location for certain and we can get her on our way out. It's closer to the gate than the lab by an entire level."

Jill nodded. They took one more look and Chris put the map away. Deep breaths were taken. Jill leaned forward and kissed Chris.

"For luck."

He winked at her and pulled open the door at the bottom of the stairs. Calmly but without wasting any time they walked down the hallway. Their eyes flashed on the signs taped to the walls and thumb tacked to doors, making sure they stayed on the right track.

One great advantage was that this was not originally an Umbrella facility. Therefore there was no AI to maintain an unsleeping watch over every inch of the complex. And having heard their friend Alice Abernathy-Olivera, whom both Jill and Claire held in the highest regard, refer to the one that had run the Hive under Raccoon City as a "homicidal bitch" the two women were doubly glad about that as was Chris once he had been filled in on the situation.

The pair had adjusted their submachine guns to ride a bit more inconspicuously on their backs but it would only take seconds to flip them into firing position. The silenced automatics rode on their hips. In short they looked like a pair of heavily armed people walking down the corridor. When the first Umbrella employees came out of a doorway and started their way both intruders tensed.

And relaxed as the trio went by with only a couple of glances. One woman's attention lingered on Chris but the expression on her face wasn't alarm or surprise, it was only the approval a woman would give to a tall, well-built handsome man. The glare that Jill, to her own surprise, gave back was that of a woman who felt her preserve was being trespassed on by a stranger.

Straining their ears the duo listened to the buzz of conversation from the three women as they turned the next corner, leaving them behind.

"God he IS sexy."

"Sure, he hasn't been hiding down here like all the men we've seen for the last couple years."

"That bitch with him looked at me like he's her property though."

Jill felt her face turn red. Defiantly she looped her arm through Chris' and leaned against him. He grinned and whispered so only she could hear, "About time."

"Sure," went on the fading conversation, "but after all hon, think of it. Mercenaries right? I bet they can all be had for the right price. Him and her both."

"Yes but you're the one who swings both ways."

The rest of the conversation faded out in the distance. Therefore Jill and Chris missed the next comments.

"I thought the mercenaries were supposed to be confined to the staging area out on the grounds except for meals and briefings and such."

"Well they can't just stroll in," objected a second woman. "They must have been summoned for something or other.

"I guess but maybe we should mention it to the next security guy we see."

Once the two infiltrators were sure they were alone Chris spoke "Mercenaries?"

Happy that he had not jumped on the comment about her possessive look Jill thought for a moment before she put the pieces together. Her eyes widened.

"Oh God NO!"

"What?"

"They couldn't move Angie from here to Tokyo because of the danger of an ocean voyage. The LA facility didn't have enough guards to make the trip safe enough to chance it. So Wesker issued a directive to find enough mercenaries to fill out the security crew to acceptable levels."

"But where would they find mercenaries? And how?"

"Beats me but remember Umbrella still has some world wide networking capabilities. And apparently they are finding some, enough so that personnel here don't find the appearance of armed strangers that unusual." Jill had lost her blush. Her face now was as pale as Chris had ever seen, even in the Arkady Mountains. "What if they've found enough?"

"Then we better take action right now." Chris increased his pace, almost but not quite breaking into a run. He tapped his headset. "Claire, do you read?"

"What is it?" his sister shot back immediately.

"Complications. There may be a lot more opposition than we thought. Be ready."

"Affirmative."

Waiting outside in her covering position Claire shifted uneasily. She didn't know how much more "a lot" of opposition was but the very fact that Chris had broke radio silence to alert her spoke volumes. She fumbled at the radio attached to her belt, switching channels.

"Sam? Honey, are you there?"

"One more floor to go," thought Jill. She struggled with her emotions. It wasn't going to help Angie or her if she lost control. She focused, letting her STARS training take over until she was under control again. Chris punched the button for the elevator they had halted in front of and the door began to open. She didn't need to visualize the map. When they reached the next floor down they would turn right and go to the third and last door on the right. That would be the lab.

The pair stepped onto the elevator, avoiding the two men in white lab coats who had started to get off before looking at the floor number. One scowled in a flash of anger and muttered something under his breath. The other simply shook his head.

"Don't let the wait bother you," he admonished his colleague as they ignored Jill and Claire other than moving slightly to allow the two supposed mercenaries to move to the back of the elevator car.

"We don't have time to spare," the first scientist shot back. "They're planning on moving that girl tonight. That barely gives us time to put her on the operating table and harvest the organ samples that we're going to allowed to keep. It was OUR idea. If anyone is going to profit from taking her apart it should be us."

Chris had never actually seen the blood drain from someone's face but he did now as the realization of what the two males, he found he couldn't consider them "men", were discussing sank in to Jill. Before he could say a word her silenced pistol leaped into her hand and then both scientists were slumping to the floor, each with a bullet in their brain. Then Chris realized his only instinctive reaction had been to shift his MP5 to a firing position.

Jill dropped her pistol back in its holster, grabbed her own submachine gun and checked to make sure the safety was off. The door dinged and opened to an empty hallway. The pair pivoted and started for the correct door. A scream was heard through the closed door, a scream Chris recognized as belonging to a teenaged girl and Jill knew instantly was her Angie. They ran the last few feet. Before Chris kicked the door off its hinges like it was cardboard he spoke.

"You go left and I'll go right."

Then they were in the sparkling antiseptic laboratory. Startled faces in surgical masks and gowns turned towards them. Those figures did not hide the form of Angela Ashford Valentine strapped to an operating table but still struggling wildly. Fear replaced surprise as the collected group saw the fury on Jill's face. Then fingers tightened on triggers and hell broke loose.

(To be continued)


	8. Trapped

The Searchers, Chapter 8 by patricia51

(Trapped)

Angela Ashford had often been scared in her life. The teen had faced death more often than any child ever should. As far as she knew everyone she had known growing up in Raccoon City was dead. Or undead. She had barely survived one close call after another. But now she was facing what looked to be the end and she couldn't come up with anything to do to get out of it.

Time had run out for the teen survivor. The word had been passed. Umbrella had gathered enough mercenaries to guard a ship capable of sailing from LA to Japan. The purpose of that voyage was to safely carry her to the main corporate lab still existing where she would become the personal project of Chairman Wesker.

That in itself was frightening enough. Once she was at sea there would be no chance of a rescue. Not Jill, not even Alice could reach her there. And once she got to Japan; a shudder ran through her slender frame, what awaited her there. The words "a fate worse than death" had always seemed like just an exaggeration. But compared to what was planned for her there death would be a release.

She had slipped into the role of an experimental subject easily. It had bought her time even as her status lowered from "subject" to "object". She didn't believe any of the Umbrella scientists even bothered to consider her as a human being anymore. Not that it would have made much difference. Humans were not of interest to them anyway.

In one way it would have almost been easier had the men there gloated about what they were about to do to her. But the cold, clinical way the head researcher had announced that prior to "the subject' being shipped off they had received permission to take portion of her internal organs for study was more terrifying than leers and laughter. She was just a thing.

She had made one vow that she was keeping. She wasn't going quietly. She bit, she scratched, she screamed and she struggled; kicking and yanking her arms and twisting her body. She had the satisfaction of leaving one man doubled over and holding his groin where she had landed an exceptionally strong kick. Another clutched the side of his head after she had removed a large portion of his ear with her teeth. She knew it only prolonged the inevitable. But her Dad had raised her to keep trying and her new mom Jill had taught you that you never gave up because if you could delay the inevitable long enough it might turn out that "inevitable' didn't apply. So she fought with all of her might even after they had dragged her to the table and strapped her to it.

Tied so tightly she no longer could move at all she used the last of her energy to try to at least burst some eardrums with the most earth-shattering scream she could let out. It was only when she saw the scalpel in the man's hand flash light into her eyes as it descended towards her body that she surrendered to her fright and her scream changed to the long drawn out wail of a terrified girl.

"Mommmmmmmmmmieeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

The surgeon's hand paused although not from Angie's outburst. Instead, his attention shifted to the doorway leading into the outside hallway. His face was hidden but Angie, fixated on him as she was, could see the frown anyway.

"What are you doing here? This is a restricted area and you're not allowed..."

The man's eyes widened and the anger turned to fear. "Wait!" he screamed in a voice almost as high pitched as Angie's had just been. Then a dear, familiar, much loved and waited for voice called out in tones of anger such as the young teen had never heard from her adopted mom.

"You BASTARDS!"

The scalpel went sailing through the air as the man wielding it lost any interest in the instrument or, in fact, anything else in this world as bullets slapping into his face snapped his body back and out of sight. The roaring of first one and then a second automatic weapon filled the room. The crowd around Angie's strapped down body vanished like grass under the spinning blade of a lawn mower.

Half-deafened and weakened from the emotional drain and fading adrenaline that had poured through her body during her struggle the world swam before Angie's eyes and she started to pass out. She resisted. Her mom was here and she had taught her better than to go around fainting.

She blinked. She blinked again. An icy thought seized her heart. Was her imagination running away with her? Had her mind snapped, the horror of what was happening having overwhelmed her senses to the point that she thought she had been saved? But then a face hovered over her and gentle fingers touched her face.

"It's okay baby. I'm here."

With that Angela's strength gave out and blackness claimed her.

Jill Valentine cried as she fumbled wildly with the straps holding her daughter to the operating table. When one of her feet contacted the body of one of the group that had been about to operate, sans anesthesia, on her she viciously kicked it.

"Jill, Jill calm down. JILL!" her partner yelled, finally getting her to look around.

"Take a deep breath and get control of yourself. We have to get moving and you being a basket case isn't going to help the three of us get out of here," Chris Redfield said.

"I know but if we had been even a few minutes late..."

"But we weren't late," he reminded her. "We were in time. Now get Angie loose while I plant the explosive charges."

Jill took the indicated deep breath. She didn't relax but she was able to bring her mind back to the task at hand. Her fingers flew over the restraint and straps, releasing Angie and pulling her up. The teen girl came back to full consciousness in her adoptive mother's embrace.

"Hey there," Jill soothed her daughter.

Angie took a deep breath of her own, snuggling against her parent. Then she leaned back slightly.

"Mom I know all about the cavalry arriving in the nick of time and all that but nobody says you have to cut it THIS close."

"We're not out of the woods yet," Chris interjected. He set another timer, slapping the preformed block of plastic explosive it was embedded in against a computer console. "I'm Chris Redfield by the way. Once upon a time I was your Mom's partner." He studied the lab. "What exactly are the most important things we need to blow up to stop Umbrella's little science project?"

"That computer for sure," Angie nodded at the place that had just received Chris' attention. "Written and taped notes are in that file cabinet over there. And that refrigerator contains all the blood and skin samples they took from me they haven't used." The teen indicated a couple of other key areas. Being depended on to answer important questions helped Angie to regain her self-control almost as much as did the touch of her extremely capable mother. Not that she hadn't been nearly out of her mind with fear but the world she lived in had taught her that losing one's grip usually led to losing one's life.

Quickly the explosives Chris had brought were placed and the timers tripped. Jill had come up with enough non-blood stained clothing for Angie. She looked at her once and current partner.

"How long do we have?"

"About ninety seconds."

Jill shoved the shattered lab doors out of the way and the trio dashed out into the hallway. They ran down to the elevator, the doors of which kept attempting to close but were thwarted by the limp arm of one of the researchers that Jill had shot that had fallen in the opening. Chris pushed the obstruction out of the way with his foot and hit the button for the top floor the instant the doors finally closed.

When they opened the situation immediately got very bad. Waiting for the elevator was a man in a suit with an air of importance as well as one of the females they had passed in the corridor what seemed like hours ago. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that they were accompanied by several heavily armed Umbrella security guards and more were coming.

The well-dressed man was frowning. "Are you sure they were mercenaries?" he was questioning the woman who didn't get a chance to reply before everyone's eyes took in the three upright people in the elevator cage as well as the two bodies on the floor.

"That's them!" cried the woman, rather unnecessarily.

Weapons started to be leveled. But Chris and Jill shot first. The guards fell, a couple managing to return fire that missed the intruders but dropped the apparent Umbrella executive. The woman promptly fainted, saving her from the gunfire that peppered the hallway as the black clad figures down the hallway opened fire. An alarm started to ring.

From her lookout position Claire had kept sneaking quick glimpses at her watch and longer worried looks at the sky. The initial infiltration had taken place in the last hour of darkness before dawn, when the senses are at their lowest and the alert level of anyone awake would be dullest. But now the sky was beginning to lighten. Where the hell were they?

Jill and Chris had kept her abreast of their progress. She knew they had rescued Angie and were on their way out. Then the radio transmitted a very heart-felt "Oh SHIT" and gunfire erupted.

"Oh CRAP," Claire semi-echoed. She caught up the sniper rifle and zeroed the scope on the front of the main building, where she knew her brother and friend were headed. Thanks to them keeping her informed she knew the figures boiling out of the tents and such were the actual mercenaries and would be as heavily armed as Chris and Jill were. When the first of those figures, now clearly visible in the rifle's scope, grabbed the door handle she fired.

Immediately she twisted the bolt handle and chambered another round, firing again the moment she had acquired another target. She repeated the action until she knew that the rifle was empty. By then she had piled enough bodies in front of the door to make it impassable. Of course that meant that Chris and Jill couldn't get out.

The hardened mercs had instinctively returned fire, wildly at first in an automatic attempt at suppression. It had taken them a few rounds to determine exactly where the sniper fire was coming from but once they had their aim became better. Bullets splattered about the window she was using. Dropping to the floor Claire crawled to another window, where the other weapon was waiting. She snuggled the butt into her shoulder and squeezed the trigger.

The M246 Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW, roared its challenge through the dawn. A smaller caliber than the sniper rifle it delivered a high volume of fire, driving the mercenaries and the Umbrella guards that had joined them to cover. The belt feeding the weapon led to an entire can of ammunition. With the bipod on the front supporting the weight she knew she could keep them pinned down for some time.

But what were they going to do with that time? Eventually she would run out of ammo and Jill, Chris and Angie would still be stuck in the building.

"What's going on out there?" Chris questioned by radio. "We can hear the gunfire all the way in here."

"Yes, well I can hear yours too. I think we need a definite plan B." She described the scenario outside. "Even if you can get to the door I don't see how you can get out. Any idea?"

"Not off the top of my head," her brother admitted.

A third voice bulled its way onto their frequency. "Chris this is Sam. Can you get back to the roof?"

"I think so."

"Do it. I'm on the way."

Fear gripped Claire. "Sam, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes I do honey. Don't worry; I have a couple of surprises in store."

"Be careful."

"Always. Give me cover fire when I call for it."

Jill and Chris nimbly changed directions, catching their adversaries off guard. With Angie between them they ran down the corridor, turned into an empty stairwell and sprinted up the concrete steps. They slammed the heavy metal door behind them; right after Chris dropped a hand grenade down the steps to discourage pursuit. The rooftop rocked beneath them to the accompaniment of a muffled roar.

"Guess the charges just went off," remarked Jill, flexing her knees to ride out the shock wave.

For a moment the gunfire ceased as though both sides were holding their breath. Indeed, unknown to each other both Claire and Jill WERE holding their breath, straining to listen for the sound of an approaching helicopter.

"Wait a minute," Jill said. "I think I hear something."

Chris and Angie looked in the direction Jill indicated. There definitely was a sound approaching. But rather than the beat of rotors it was something else.

"Is that MUSIC?"

(To be continued)


	9. Rescue

The Searchers, Chapter 9 by patricia51

(Yikes! Sorry this is late. My computer went into the shop last week and I just got it back about a half-hour ago. But Chapter 10 WILL be ready by the usual Saturday posting date, Lord willing and the river don't rise.)

(Rescue)

"Is that MUSIC?"

From both the rooftop of the central Umbrella building and the third floor apartment where Claire crouched the foursome strained their ears.

"It IS music," said Jill.

"And growing louder," noted Chris.

Now the woof-woof-woof of a helicopter's rotors could be heard underneath the increasing thunder of the pounding melody.

"What the hell IS it?"

"It's Wagner," yelled Angie, having to raise her voice to be heard, 'The Ride of the Valkyries."

The radio crackled, Sam's voice barely heard as the roar of the helo's engine matched the driving classical music.

"On top of the building; get your heads down and get them way down! Coming in NOW."

The trio ducked as the long black shape of the once Umbrella chopper came into sight, from between two buildings. Claire's eyes stood out as she saw it pop into view too close for the stunned mercenaries to react. Sam must have flown down the street between the buildings. And it wasn't the smaller chopper they had taken from the Umbrella North American facility; it was the heavily armed gunship.

The helo slowed and rocked slightly. From under the nose the six-barreled mini-gun screamed. Bullets hailed down among the defenders, silencing the return fire before it had barely begun. Ricochets flew everywhere, chopping into the concrete walls of the building. Jill pushed Angie flat and covered her with her body. A moment later Chris fell on top of both of them.

When Sam was satisfied he had at least temporarily suppressed the bad guys he released the trigger and yelled into the radio.

"Cover fire Claire!"

The former convoy leader grabbed the SAW and sprayed the same area Sam had just worked over as the helo surged forward and rose slightly till it hovered over the top of the bullet pocked building. From each of the open side doors a rope dropped to the roof, followed by a rappelling body. On one side a strongly built dark haired man plunged, a Galil assault rifle in his hands. On the other a beautiful and determined woman descended, a machine pistol in each hand. The moment they touched down they yanked their ropes from the D-rings and the helo pulled up and away as an unseen someone reeled in the ropes.

Chris twisted from his position covering Jill and Angie, his pistol leaping into his hand. He was sure from both he radio transmission and from the descriptions Jill and Claire had given him that he knew who this couple was. But it didn't pay to take chances that one didn't have to take. Especially when it wasn't just your life at stake but also that of an old, dear friend and the person who mattered most in her life.

When the woman holstered her weapons and helped him to his feet while the man scanned the area, rifle at the ready, Chris felt safe to ask a question.

"Doctors Livingstone I presume?"

"I think that should be our line," the woman pointed out. "After all, we found you."

From under her Mom's protective shielding Angie looked up. "Alice?"

"Hi Angie," the woman smiled as Jill rose along with her daughter.

"Hey Angie," the man called.

"Carlos!" The teen smiled even as she held on to Jill. "How did you two get here?"

"By helicopter silly," teased Alice, who moved to the edge of the building, her pistols drawn again.

"Don't pay any attention to her sweetie," Carlos grinned as he came over to the trio of escapees, unslinging several short ropes that were looped around his shoulder and giving one to each of them. "She's just grumpy because she couldn't get comfortable on the flight down here."

"There are times I wonder why I ever married you Carlos Olivera,' Alice pretended to grumble even as she produced two hand grenades of her own and dropped them over the edge of the building.

"You're married?" asked Angie in surprised delight.

Any further repartee was cut off as first the two grenades went off and then as the entire building rocked alarmingly from another internal explosion even bigger than the first one.

"I think you set something off down there Chris," Jill noted.

"Well let's not linger and find out," Carlos said. "Tie yourselves into these. Sam will be back in a minute and we'll be getting out of here."

"How?" asked Jill.

"He'll drop two lines. There will be two snap links on each one. Jill, you and Angie clip yourselves to the first on one the right. Chris, you do the same on the first one on the left. Lock arms with Jill. That will keep you from swaying too much. Then Sam will lift you up off the roof. Then Alice and I will attach ourselves to the second set and off we go."

"Will we be pulled up into the helo?" inquired Chris as tightly wrapped the rope around him the way he was shown. He snapped the D-ring into place and then went over to check on Angie and Jill.

"No, Sam will have to land elsewhere and then we'll unhook and climb in. The most dangerous part is the lift out. Fortunately Sam is the best helo driver I think I've ever seen. After we're aboard we'll go pick up Claire and be out of here." Another explosion shook the building and a jet of some burning liquid erupted on the far side of the compound. "And we need to be out of here right now. Sam? Do you copy?"

"Inbound," came the short reply.

While they waited Jill looked at Carlos and Alice, who were both taking the opportunity to hug Angie. "Not that I'm not grateful to see you but I thought you said you would 'come running if we called' or words to that effect."

"We did say that," admitted Alice, "but that didn't exclude any other action by us. We just thought that it would be better if the gunship was down here and us along with it so Sam picked it and us up yesterday once he knew you were safe at the survivors' colony and not liable to need him until now."

"I'm surprised K-Mart let you come," Jill commented.

"Who do you think is handling the ropes?"

"Who's K-Mart?" asked Angie even as they all stiffened as the sound of the approaching chopper became apparent.

"She's our daughter Angie," smiled Alice. "Carlos and I adopted her like your Mom adopted you."

Sam came back on the radio. "Claire, cover fire..." the black helo appeared and swung into a hover. Two lines, each weighted on the end with a sandbag, plummeted to the roof. "... NOW."

The SAW raked the front of the building again, although much lower this time. There was little or no return fire by now. The threesome found their hookups and snapped on. Chris and Jill interlocked their arms. Carlos gave a wave and the helo lifted about twenty feet. It paused for a moment until Carlos came on the radio.

"GO!"

Carlos hadn't been kidding about the lift-off. Sweat beads dotted Sam's forehead and he clenched his teeth as he pulled back on the collective while twisting the throttle. His feet on the anti-torque pedals and his other hand on the cyclic kept the helo from slipping sideways from the force of the tail rotor. He had to balance everything to make sure he lifted straight up, not an easy task since being unable see under him meant he had no reference point. But if he allowed the helo to go forward before it had reached enough height for the dangling figures to clear the surrounding buildings it would be a very bad day for those people depending on him. At the same time the people hanging from the ropes made splendid targets so he couldn't spend all day figuring it out.

Fortunately Sam Treadwell was as gifted a pilot as Carlos thought he was. He pulled straight up to a safe height before beginning forward flight. He wasted no time doing it. Activating his radio he called Claire.

"I'm headed for the park. Drop everything and head for the roof there honey. As soon as I have everyone on board I'll be back to pick you up. It shouldn't be but a few minutes."

Claire looked over the scene in front of her. When her friends got mad they sure made a mess. Explosions were still rocking the facility. Flames kept springing up. Figures were running away from the devastation. And to top it all off she saw that not all the zombies in LA were just standing around. Some were still active and drawn to the sound and light show. She saw a group of them mowed down by a pair of what she assumed were mercenaries and then saw those two go down under a second wave of the undead.

Among all the other noise a high-pitched scream caught her ear. She looked to her right. Just disappearing around the corner of the building a trio of women were desperately trying to avoid a trio of closing undead.

Normally Claire would have left any Umbrella goon to face his or her fate. But a couple things changed her mind, making her snatch up the sniper rifle, jerk open the apartment door and charge down the hall while jamming unfired cartridges into the weapon. First off the women wore regular every day clothes, not uniforms, not lab coats and not the business attire that Umbrella policy makers seemed to insist on wearing even after the world fell apart. Second was their attitude. One woman had apparently fallen and was having trouble walking. Instead of leaving her behind, one woman was supporting her with an arm around her shoulders while the second one bombarded the zombies with a shower of rocks she was throwing as fast as she could pick them up from the ruble. People who refused to abandon friends were worth saving.

The hall ended in a window. She smashed the amazingly intact glass and thrust the muzzle of the rifle out of the frame. She took aim on the zombie nearest to the trio.

The shattering glass had caught the attention of the woman trying to help the injured one stagger along. She must have thought Claire was aiming at them because she cried out "No! Please don't shoot." Ignoring her, Claire squeezed the trigger, racked the bolt, fired a second time and then repeated the action one more time.

The rock-thrower had been the first one to realize that the undead were now in fact dead and no threat to them except as little sprawled on the street. The one who had yelled stared in disbelief first at Claire and then over her shoulder. Claire leaned out the window and yelled.

"Can any of you use a weapon?" When the one who had been trying to brain the zombies with stones nodded Claire shrugged out of her shoulder harness and tossed it to the street. "Nine millimeter and three extra magazines. Stay in the middle of the streets as much as possible. Cut to the west to the old park. Don't worry about the zombies there." She went on to rapidly describe how to get up to the survivors' colony. "Tell them Claire sent you."

"Oh my God thank you!" the one supporting her friend shouted. The other one grabbed the shoulder holster and showed she did indeed know how to use a pistol by checking the loads in the weapon. She looked back up and waved her thanks.

The rumble of the helo was already reverberating through the streets as Claire dashed for the stair and headed up to the roof, saying a prayer along the way that she didn't meet any zombies since she now had two rounds in her rifle and no other weapon except a knife that she knew she couldn't use like Alice did. Her luck held and she emerged on the flat building top safely.

She set the rifle down, wondering if some day she might retrieve it. But with all the people on board the helo there was no room for it. There was a fleeting moment of regret that she couldn't have got it to the women in the street but a bolt-action rifle, even if it had been fully loaded, was not the ideal weapon for the ruins they would have to get through.

The sight of Sam's helo making its way over the rooftops brought her mind right back to now. The wind had picked up and she saw he would have to make his approach from the East. She backed up near the edge of the building, checking to make sure she wasn't TOO close and sparing a glance for the debacle plainly visible at the Umbrella facility. She noted with satisfaction that the whole main building was gloriously in flames and collapsing into itself.

The chopper hovered right in front of her. His visor up she could see Sam's grin and she blew him a kiss. Angie was in Jill's arms and she noted her brother was holding them both. That would be lovely she smiled to herself. Alice and Carlos, with K-Mart tucked between them, each extended a hand. She leaped for them, felt them lock onto hers. She felt their strength as the hauled her into the chopper. She felt the bullet that slammed into her back, causing her to let go of her friends' hands and fall back onto the barren rooftop.

(To be continued)

(Notes: First, thanks to Hidden Relevance for reminding me in her story "Overcome" of Carlos' skill in rapelling. Second, I had hoped to be able to direct everyone to the scene from "Apocalypse Now" where Robert Duvall's Air Cavalry Squadron comes thundering in to the attack from the ocean with "Ride of the Valkyries" blasting from two huge speakers on the lead chopper but every clip I found on youtube was blocked. *Sigh* However you probably can still find the music itself.)


	10. Emergency

The Searchers, Chapter 10 by patricia51

(Emergency)

"No!" screamed Sam as Claire's face turn blank and her hands slip from the grip of Alice and Carlos. The pair would have reacted better but both were forced to duck as the single shot was followed by a storm of incoming fire. Alice snatched out both machine pistols to return fire but had to settle for just spraying in the general direction of the Umbrella troops and mercs who had taken refuge in several of the guard towers. Carlos had dragged down K-Mart to protect her and once again Chris covered Jill and Angie.

Sam turned the chopper and let fly with one of the missile pods mounted on the stubby wings of the helo. A half-dozen rockets turned the tower he thought the sniper might have fired from into scrap but a heavy machine-gun opened up from yet another one and the chopper began to spin. Smoke came from the tail section. Fighting the controls with all he could muster Sam looked frantically for a landing place. He did take the opportunity to empty the magazine of the mini-gun when the gyrating craft spun its nose across the two remaining towers, hopefully silencing them for good.

"There, over there," yelled Alice, pointing to the falling down walls of what looked to be a sports arena; a football or baseball field in the middle. Sam guiding the stalling helo that way, the engine quitting just as they hovered over the open area. Automatically he auto-rotated, yanking hard at the collective at the last second to make a reasonably soft landing.

The instant the helicopter had come to rest Sam clambered out of his seat. Tossing his helmet on the ground he looked back towards the building they had just come from and started that way. Carlos caught him by the arm.

"What?" all but snarled the former Umbrella pilot.

"What," replied Alice, coming up beside her husband, "is that you need to stay here and see if you can repair the helo. It's a long walk back to Alaska from here. Carlos and I will go after Claire."

"She's right Sam," confirmed Jill. "You've got to be pretty darned good but you're no match in a fight for them. They can get there a lot faster than you." She didn't add that Carlos and Alice were much more likely to get there than the over-wrought man was.

For a moment the tension was palatable. Then Sam's shoulders slumped and he nodded.

"Don't worry," Alice said softly. "We'll bring her back."

There was a brief discussion as to whether or not anyone else should go. Chris argued he knew the city better than anyone. K-Mart was determined not to let her parents out of her sight. But both were convinced to stay behind; Chris to help Jill look after Angie and guard the site and K-Mart to help Sam work on the helo.

"It's no secret, to us anyway, that Sam has been teaching you to fly," Alice grinned at her daughter. "So now you help him fix this thing." With that parting shot she and Carlos slipped out of sight, having paused only to restock their ammo supply and make sure the headset radios were working.

K-Mart rolled her eyes. How come her parents were so smart? She turned as Sam unlatched the inspection doors and began to poke around inside the helo. Chris and Jill took up guard positions on either side of the downed craft. And the other teenaged girl in the group slipped over to stand beside her.

"They'll be alright you know," she said. "I've known them a long time although I haven't seen them in years."

"They have talked about you a lot since I first met them. They had wondered how you were, if you were alright. When they found Jill, your mom, they were happy that you had been with her but scared that you had been taken. As soon as we got the news up in Alaska that you were here in LA and Jill and Claire took off down here they, my parents, started making plans to come too." The teen grinned. "But this time I was able to come along too." She sobered. "It's scary out here but not near as scary as seeing them go off without me. I don't want that to happen again."

"I bet. I'm Angie by the way."

"I'm K-Mart."

"Really?"

"I have a legal first name, the name I was given at birth. But Mom and Dad promised me when they got married and did the whole formal adoption thing that I wouldn't have to use it. I never liked it. When Claire and Carlos and the rest of the convoy found me it was in the back room of a K-Mart store scavenging and trying to stay alive. As I told my mom when I met her it seemed time for a change."

The two teens began the business of becoming fast friends as K-Mart headed over to help Sam inspect the helicopter and Angie came along. The pair of them was now talking ninety miles an hour as Angie helped K-Mart start rooting through the tool box as they exchanged stories of how they happened to meet their adoptive parents.

While Carlos and Alice made their way through the ruined streets back to the building where Claire had been and the rest of the team worked on the helo or stood guard, Claire's eyes opened. She blinked.

She had been shot she knew and had fallen back on the roof. Before she had passed out she had seen the helo staggering from multiple gunfire hits. So no surprise that she was still on the roof. But that she wasn't alone WAS a surprise, especially since the two faces looking down at her belonged to no one she could recall ever meeting.

Or had she? A third face bent over her, one that was upside down instead of sideways. Claire decided that must mean the owner of that face was the one holding her head in her lap. That was nice of her. Much softer than the gravel topping of the roof. And that woman did look very vaguely familiar. Her voice didn't though. Claire listened to what she was saying to the other two.

"MaryBeth, tear up something to make a bandage. Eliza, see if you can find some water but do it after we turn her on her side. I'm worried that the bullet may have pierced a lung so we need to get the good one up so she can breathe. And let's make sure that the door to the stairs is closed and barred. We don't want any zombies smelling their way up here."

The hands were gentle on her body. Claire thought of Sam. Was he okay? And everyone else? If so she knew someone would come for her. She tried to tell the face she knew she had seen before that someone would come for her but her mouth was too dry and her eyes were too heavy to speak.

"Shhhh, it's alright. We'll take care of you," reassured the voice.

Claire believed it. Darkness swam around her and she passed out again.

Carlos and Alice darted through the streets, moving swiftly. The pair of seasoned adventurers had fit together well the first time they met in Raccoon City. Now after separation and reuniting and falling in love the two of them moved as one. Neither needed to tell the other what they were doing, it was already known. The rest time they had in their new home in Alaska had only sharpened their skills.

They were cautious but quick. Speed was the keyword. They depended on Alice's special senses and abilities to keep them safe where other people might have failed. Zombies that were encountered along the way were handled quickly. All of them. No matter how urgent the need was to get to their fallen friend the pair had not survived by leaving foes behind them capable of harming them. So nearby ones fell to Alice's knives and one farther away were picked off by Carlos' sharpshooting.

There weren't very many of the undead, giving additional evidence to the theory that the zombies and perhaps the T-virus too were succumbing to time. Those that were still mobile were falling apart. It still didn't pay to take chances with any of them. The pair's immediate mission was to get to their friend but as always the long-term one was to get back to their daughter safe and sound.

It didn't take long though to reach their objective. Keeping the bulk of the building between them and the still exploding and burning ruins of the Umbrella base. Staying right up against the wall they reached the door. Alice put her mouth to Carlos' ear.

"This door should be closed. Someone's been here recently."

Pointing at a scrap f cloth caught on a projection and two different sized footprints in the dust blown into the entrance over the years Carlos nodded his agreement and lifted two fingers.

"At least," agreed Alice.

Weapons at the ready, the pair took the stairs in a hurry. At the top a gentle, questioning push showed that the door was barred. Knowing Claire had not had time to do that since they had seen her come out on to the roof as they swung in to pick her up that meant there was someone else there. Not zombies obviously, especially since the murmur of low pitched voices, and female voices to boot, could be heard.

"Break it down?" signaled Carlos silently.

Alice was about to agree when a slightly louder voice made itself heard understandably.

"The bullet went right through. I think we have the bleeding stopped."

With that Alice shook her head sideways. She dashed down a flight of stairs and found the hall window, long ago broken out. Craning her neck she spotted an ornate carving right over her head. She balanced on the window sill and jumped up.

For any ordinary person it would have been dangerous. For Alice, her virus bonded reflexes and strength allowed her to grasp the carving and execute a complete flip over it. She landed feet first on the roof. Three startled faces looked at her.

"So, what exactly are you doing with my friend?"

"She's... she's been shot," blurted out one of the two who were kneeling beside Claire.

"I'm aware of that. I saw it happen. My question is who exactly are you and why are you up here."

The one sponging Claire's face with a dampened cloth that Alice saw was a torn up woman's top, as was the bandage circling Claire's body, replied.

"Who we are are three employees of Umbrella Corporation that you and your friends have just knocked out of a job. Not that I can blame you. What we're doing here is that when the complex was falling down around us we made a break for it. We have been living underground for years now and our survival skills are non-existent. The very first group of zombies we encountered just outside here were about to make a meal out of us when they went down, thanks to your friend here. She saved our lives although she had no reason to do so that I can think of off the top of my head."

"She threw me a holstered pistol with extra ammo. We were trying to decide where we could go when we saw the helo come back. We also saw it, you, try to pick up our rescuer and saw her get shot. When you were unable to land we decided we had no choice. We would have to come up here and see if she was still alive and if so do the best we could to keep her that way."

Alice nodded. "Thanks. Her name is Claire Redfield by the way. I'm Alice."

"Not 'Project Alice'?" blurted out the third woman in awe.

"Could be. But we don't have time to discuss that right now. We need to get Claire to a doctor."

"Do you know where one is?" asked the woman who seemed to be the leader. "I'm a Para-medic and I've done the best I can but I'm no doctor."

"I do and assuming that none of you are Umbrella supporters and can demonstrate it there might be a place of refuge for you."

"I don't know how any of us could prove it, short of hypnotic interrogation or something like that but all three of us have been desperate to get away from Umbrella." The woman went on to quickly introduce the trio; the medic was named Helena, MaryBeth was a systems analyst and Eliza was a lab technician.

"We're the only three surviving women," Helena went on bitterly. "The others were all ejected as times got tough or in one of the periodic purges. We knew any day any one of us could follow our friends. Umbrella is pretty male-dominated. Women are considered expendable, especially lately."

Alice nodded. She was well aware of the ruthlessness of the corporation and its lack of concern for its employees, especially the rank and file and lower management. She studied the trio. They all met her eyes without flinching. She came to a decision.

"I believe you." She indicated Claire. "Can she be moved?"

"If it means getting her to a doctor than the answer is definitely yes," Helena said decisively. "I think we can rig a stretcher with the stuff at hand here."

A knock on the door leading down reminded Alice that Carlos was still waiting. She opened it. Seeing how all three women reacted to his appearance she was careful to immediately introduce him, casually mentioning that he was her husband. Not that Alice had the slightest worry that all three of the women, attractive though they were, combined could turn her man's head for an instant it simply was an easy way to get them to stop making puppy dog eyes and get their attention back on Claire and getting to safety.

In short order two metal poles had been produced and slid through the arms of the women's jackets. Claire had been carefully slipped onto the stretcher. With Alice in the lead they had negotiated the stairs. Once they were safely in the street they took off as quickly as they could. Alice noted the women had apparently stayed in good physical shape as MaryBeth and Eliza carried the semi-conscious woman without too much difficulty. Helena, armed with the pistol that Claire had tossed to her, kept a careful watch on their rear while Carlos ranged ahead.

Alice and Helena had checked Claire again as they had started off. Although badly wounded her injuries did not seem to be immediately life-threatening. Alice sighed in relief. They had eliminated all the zombies on the route in so there should be little opposition returning to the helo. Things were going just fine.

Of course Alice could only think that because she couldn't see the scene at the field where the helicopter had landed and their friends were waiting...

(To Be Continued)


	11. Decision

The Searchers, Chapter 11 by patricia51

(Decision)

"Sam, we are LEAVING!" screamed Chris as he dropped the empty magazine from his MP5 and jammed another one in its place. He hit the bolt release and sprayed half the new rounds into the oncoming horde.

When things go to shit, as they always do in this world he reminded himself, the resulting pile always gets bigger and smellier with each occurrence. And they were definitely in it hip-deep this time. He cast a frantic look behind him. Jill was behind him, between the oncoming undead and the two girls she was covering.

Even under the circumstances a grin tugged at his face. The look on Jill's face should frighten even zombies away. And it was matched by the sheer determination on the faces of both K-Mart and Angie. Both girls held pistols in their hands and were demonstrating they had no reluctance to use them. Angie was trying but he had to admit that K-Mart was a damn fine shot. His former partner's friends had certainly trained their adopted daughter well. Her arms extended in a two-handed grip, a zombie fell with each shot.

Well this was a fine mess that had suddenly come upon them. The observed reactions of the T-virus infected populace that was just about all that remained in Los Angeles had lulled their group into a false sense of security. Instead of keeping an eagle eye on their surroundings they had been busy with other thoughts and pursuits. And this new land didn't forgive mistakes like that.

Sam Treadwell had been working furiously on trying to repair the shot-up chopper, trying hard to keep his mind occupied on that rather than on the image burned in his brain of Claire Redfield's face going blank as she fell from the door of the chopper. Chris had never met the man before today, in fact not until a few moments ago. But he was well aware that the former Umbrella pilot had fallen in love with his sister, a love that he was pretty sure was reciprocated.

Jill Valentine was a determined and extremely competent woman. His former partner with the Special Tactics And Rescue Service he knew well how good she was and that was damn good. But she had just rescued her adopted daughter from an actual fate worse than death and no matter how hard she tried to watch her side of the area her eyes had kept straying towards Angie, who was trying not to distract her mom by watching and talking to K-Mart.

And he hadn't had his mind completely in the game either. Part of him was nearly as worried as Sam was about Claire. To finally find his sister again and now have to face the possibility of losing her was heavy on his mind. Another part kept straying towards Jill and her daughter. Once upon a time he had Jill had been very close. They had firmly put the thoughts of romance aside at the time, agreeing that being partners in the high profile and also highly dangerous STARS law-enforcement program precluded it. Still, it had been a sacrifice for both of them because they had been drawn to each other from the start.

The years that had separated them after the last time they were together in the Arkady Mountains had softened the attraction, even buried it under layers of new memories. But the moment they had seen each other it had leaped back as though the ashes had been swept off a smoldering fire allowing it to burst back into flames.

There hadn't been time to talk about, to even mention it. But it was there, for both of them. They could see it in each other's eyes. And the addition of Angie made it even better to Chris' surprise. He had never thought about Jill becoming a mother. She was incredible at it. He wondered if he could be as good a father. He found to his surprise he wanted that.

So all in all the hardened bunch of survivors were taken off their guard as none of them ever had been individually let alone as a group when one of the tunnels that led to the ruined stadium underground complex suddenly vomited forth a flood of zombies. Still active zombies. Still hungering for human flesh zombies.

Caught by surprise of not the group reacted instinctively. Chris laid down as heavy a line of fire as he could manage. Jill grabbed Angie and K-Mart, pushed them behind her and added her firepower to Chris. The two submachine guns pumped out a lot of rounds, dropping a lot of zombies but the horde kept coming. The group fell back, grabbing what equipment they could from the chopper.

All except Sam. He glanced up and redoubled his efforts to fix the helo, frantically trying to make the craft airworthy again. Chris looked at the far end of the stadium and saw it was empty. He pointed and screamed to Jill to take the girls and go that way. He ran around the chopper and yelled.

"Sam, we are LEAVING!"

The other man barely looked up. Chris emptied the rest of the magazine, blessing whoever had thought to add an additional bag of full magazines for the MP5's among the chopper's cargo. She reloaded again and grabbed Sam's shoulder.

"NOW Sam!"

"Leave me alone. I've got to fix this. I've got to get back to Claire. She needs me"

Chris grabbed the pilot and pulled him to his feet. "She needs you alive. Not to mention that my sister will kill me if I allow you to get eaten by zombies. We'll come back for the chopper. Now run!"

The first undead were already banging on the tail of the helo when Sam shook himself, grabbed his equipment bag from between the seats and snatched a long gun from clamps holding it beside the pilot's door. He pivoted, holding the weapon pointed out from his hip and fired. The sound was deafening and the nearest zombies were flung back.

"What the hell is that?" asked Chris between gasps as the pair took off in the wake of Jill and the girls, who had reached the fallen down and wide open end of the stadium.

"Ithaca Mag-10. It's a ten gauge shotgun. Semi-automatic. Found it in an old police arms room up in Alaska," replied Sam in short puffs.

The five some reunited outside the stadium. Sam took a look back. The bulk of the zombies were milling around although a few were doggedly following the survivors and a few more were clambering into the chopper.

"We'll come back for it when we meet up with Claire and the others," said Chris.

"It's just a machine," shrugged Sam. "Important only for what it can do for us. I nearly forgot that. Besides..." he shrugged. "Time for that when we're all together again."

After turning a couple of corners they set out on the same route that Alice had indicated she and Carlos would take to get to Jill and hopefully use to return. The occasional recently finished off zombie told them that they were on the right track. In fact they saw not another creature until they turned one more corner and saw Carlos ahead of them with a slightly larger party than they expected behind him. Sam rushed to meet them.

Chris drew Carlos aside. Alice, Jill and the girls joined them. Chris lifted a questioning eyebrow.

"Who are they?"

Alice explained what they had seen and heard from the trio of newcomers.

"You trust them?"

"Pretty much so. They went to Claire's aid because she helped them and they wanted to help in return. They frankly admitted they're in no shape to survive out here. I suppose one or all of them could be the type who plays three dimensional chess as a hobby but I doubt it. I think they're exactly who they say they are.

Chris studied the trio. "Well, none of them are the one who notified Umbrella security that there was a pair of mercenaries in an off limits area, which led to the shoot out. So what are we going to do with them?"

"Take them to the colony that Jill and Claire found and let that Guiding Council decide. They accept survivors from outside I understand. I'm sure they'd be pretty careful with admitted Umbrella employees but after all, some ex-Umbrella people are great folks. I'm one, I'm married to one and I'm pretty sure you will have one for a brother-in-law before long."

Chris shrugged. The united party moved cautiously through the streets. Strangely, things seem to have settled back to the way they had been before. No hordes, no charging packs, just the occasional solitary undead, most of whom were the decaying variety. Of course the survivors continued to quietly and carefully make sure they were really dead before moving on.

The huge assembly around the colony was still there and still motionless. Even with the noise and difficulty of getting Claire's stretcher up the platform to the bottom of the fire escape made not a single undead head turn.

Chris, Carlos and Alice had discussed their one worry; how they would get Claire up the tube enclosed fire escape ladder and into the building. Since Chris had been an actual resident of the colony he made the climb to the upper occupied floors to discuss the situation with the Council.

As it turned out there was already a plan and equipment ready to deal with such an emergency. The guards at the entrance notified the head of security and the medical personnel. A lift, similar to that used to lower a ship's lifeboats, was rigged on the roof. The attached basket was lowered and Claire's stretcher was loaded onto it. As soon as it was raised she was hustled down stairs to the medical clinic.

The others climbed the long metal ladder to the regular entrance. The three new comers were completely winded by the time they finished the trek. Chris had had a quiet word with the guards and the three Umbrella women were politely but firmly hustled to a room to be interviewed by the former police detective who was the head of the security team to determine if they were in fact real escapees from the corporation or yet another attempt to insert agents into the colony.

Chris and the others gathered in the waiting room, with Sam doing so much pacing that finally the others had to near sit on him to make him eat something and try to calm down. It wasn't long, but it seemed like days, before a man in scrubs came out, pulling his mask down.

"I assume you are the young woman's friends and family?"

"Yes," replied Sam who was out of his chair and in front of the man before anyone else, even Alice, could blink much less move.

"I'm Doctor Madison. Your...?" he let the words trail off in a question.

"Fianc e," replied Sam firmly.

"Your fianc e is going to be just fine. The bullet missed anything important. The first aid she apparently got immediately kept her from going into shock. A few days rest and she'll be fine."

Sam's shoulders slumped in relief. "Thank you. Can I see her?"

"She won't be awake for a while but if you promise to be quiet you can sit with her until she does. It always helps to awaken to a familiar face." The doctor ushered a beaming Sam out of the room.

Chris looked at the others and smiled in relief. Then he grinned as he realized the survivors were sitting in two groups of three. K-Mart was between Alice and Carlos and all three were hugging. And then arms closed around him as Jill squeezed him and together they reached out to bring Angie to them.

In the other group Alice also smiled as she held her husband and daughter. "I have the feeling that Angie has found a new father to go along with her mom," she whispered to Carlos, who nodded his agreement.

"Good," added K-Mart. "I like Angie. We're going to be best friends. And Aunt Jill looks really happy with that man. He's really Claire's brother?"

"Uh-huh."

The sextet settled down to wait for further words from Sam. After a while the girls fell asleep while the adults discussed their separate adventures as well as the worrisome reappearance of so many still active zombies.

"All I can think of is it must be the darkness," said Alice thoughtfully. "Like all cities LA is honeycombed with tunnels of all kinds; sewer, public works, subways, electrical conduits. A certain percentage of them would have had people in them exposed to the T-virus."

"Or those normal humans the zombies were drawn to," added Carlos.

"What worries me the most," put in Jill, "is the idea that those zombies might have somehow known that being out of the light was safer for them. Could that imply some kind of intelligence?"

"I hope not," said Alice after several moments of silence passed.

"The notes of Isaacs that we found in the North American facility described the zombies as being animals. That was a scientific judgment not a moral one. It could be related to the way that they have always gathered around survivors when they remain too long in one place."

"You're saying it could be an instinct then?"

"God I hope it's no more than that."

The worry was interrupted by the arrival of a haggard but smiling Sam.

"What's up? It looks like good news," said Chris.

Sam collapsed into a chair. He ran a hand over his face. "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is all about Claire. She's awake, alert and not in much pain."

"And the bad news?" prompted Alice.

"The helicopter is trashed. How it made it as far as it did is a miracle in itself. There's not going to be any repairing it."

Silence came over the group again. On everyone's mind was the thought "How are we going to get home?"

Eventually Chris shook his head. "That's not the important thing right now. Claire getting well is and we need to think of what we can do to repay the colony here for taking us in like they have. While that's happening we can decide what we're going to do next."

"I think we could probably salvage the mini-gun from the chopper," said Sam. "Mounted on the corner facing the major part of the park it would give them some awesome firepower in case of a problem. It eats ammunition like no tomorrow but when the choice come between that and no tomorrow for real it's not hard to decide."

"Lots of other things we could do to help them be more secure," added Jill. "We really owe them."

"Then let's get busy," concluded Carlos.

A few days passed swiftly. The mini-gun was brought back. No further attack occurred at the stadium. The survivors weren't sure what to make of it but no one had any intention of plunging into the tunnels under the complex. Other useful items were stripped from the chopper, including its long range radio.

Other expeditions had brought back needed supplies, including fertilizer for the roof top gardens. By the time Claire was fit to move around the group had done a great deal to strengthen the people who had taken them in and sheltered them.

Two weeks after the escape from the LA Umbrella facility the eight survivors sat down to discuss what they should do next.

"I really see only two choices," Alice opened the discussion. "We stay here with the Colony, who has made it clear we are welcome, or we try to get back to Alaska."

"I suppose we could strike out as before," said Claire. "Go back on the road."

"Really?" put in Carlos.

"I suppose not,' admitted Claire. She took Sam's hand. "It was just a thought."

"I want to go home," said K-Mart firmly. "I want our house and I miss our dog."

"This is a nice place," Alice agreed, "But we do have a home now and I miss it too."

"Also," Jill added. "Umbrella as a whole and Chairman Wesker in particular know of the connection between Angie, me, Alice and pretty much the rest of us. Are we endangering the people here by staying?"

"I don't know. Knowing Umbrella it's a possibility," replied Chris.

Alice put the question. "Okay then. All in favor of returning to Alaska?"

The vote was unanimous.

"Well, I guess we better get started."

(The End)

(Once again, as with "Tripod", this is a good place to take a break. The trip back to Alaska for our favorite survivors will take place in a new story to be written after I come up for air and write a few other things on my mind. But I'll be back! Oh and the line We are LEAVING! is borrowed from another sci-fi/horror movie. Which one? Corporal Dwayne Hicks is the speaker.)


End file.
